Data relating to 7.9 million people was compromised in the past 12 months.
There was an increase in the number of external breaches in the legal sector in the past 12 months.
According to analysis of ICO data by NetDocuments found between Q3 2023 and Q2 2024, the number of identified data breaches in the UK legal sector rose by 39 percent (2,284 cases were reported to the ICO, compared to 1,633 the previous year).
Overall, 39 percent of all data breaches occurred from human error, such as failure to redact or use bcc, alteration of data or a hardware misconfiguration, while 37 percent of all data breaches occurred from sharing data with the wrong person (e.g., via email, post or verbally).
Beyond basic personal information (42 percent), the most common types of data breached were economic and financial data (13 percent), health data (10 percent), and official documents (10 percent).
David Hansen, VP, compliance at NetDocuments, said: “Legal data breaches impact more than one ten people in the UK, so it is imperative that firms continue to shore up their internal and external defences.
“This new analysis firmly underlines that the legal sector can’t ignore data protection. Firms handle sensitive documents every hour of every day, so maintaining security when introducing new technologies must remain the highest priority.”
Written by
Dan Raywood
Senior Editor
SC Media UK
Dan Raywood is a B2B journalist with more than 20 years of experience, including covering cybersecurity for the past 16 years. He has extensively covered topics from Advanced Persistent Threats and nation-state hackers to major data breaches and regulatory changes.
He has spoken at events including 44CON, Infosecurity Europe, RANT Conference, BSides Scotland, Steelcon and ESET Security Days.
Outside work, Dan enjoys supporting Tottenham Hotspur, managing mischievous cats, and sampling craft beers.
