Category: Fines

Password Manager Provider Fined £1.2m for GDPR Data Breach 

On 20th November 2025, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) fined password manager provider, LastPass UK Ltd, £1.2 million following a 2022 data breach that compromised the personal data of up to 1.6 million UK users. 

Two security incidents occurred in August 2022 when a hacker gained access first to a corporate laptop of an employee based in Europe and then to a US-based employee’s personal laptop on which the hacker implanted malware and then was able to capture the employee’s master password. The combined detail from both incidents enabled the hacker to access LastPass’ backup database and take personal data which included customer names, emails, phone numbers, and stored website URLs.  

For a good analysis of what went wrong at LastPass and how to avoid such incidents, please read this blog. This is the seventh GDPR fine issued by the ICO in 2025; all have been in relation to cyber security incidents.  In October professional and outsourcing services company Capita received a £14 million fine following a 
cyber-attack  which saw hackers gain access to 6.6 million people’s personal data; from pension and staff records to the details of customers of organisations Capita supports. In March an NHS IT supplier was fined £3million, in April a £60,000 fine was issued to a law firm and in June 23andMe, a US genetic testing company, was fined £2.31 million.  

The ICO has urged organisations to ensure internal security policies explicitly consider and address data breach risks. Where risks are identified access should be restricted to specific user groups. The ICO website is a rich source of information detailing ways to improve practices including Working from home – security checklist for employers, Data security guidance and Device security guidance. 

Cyber Security Training 

We have two workshops coming up (How to Increase Cyber Security in your Organisation and Cyber Security for DPOs) which are ideal for organisations who wish to upskill their employees about cyber security. See also our Managing Personal Data Breaches Workshop. 

Revised GDPR Handbook   

The data protection landscape continues to evolve. With the passing of the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, data protection practitioners need to ensure their materials reflect the latest changes to the UK GDPR, Data Protection Act 2018, and PECR.   

The newly updated UK GDPR Handbook (2nd edition) brings these developments together in one practical reference. It includes all amendments introduced by the DUA Act, with colour-coded changes for easy navigation and links to relevant recitals, ICO guidance, and caselaw that help make sense of the reforms in context. We have included relevant provisions of the amended DPA 2018 to support a deeper understanding of how the laws interact. Delegates on our future GDPR certificate courses will receive a complimentary copy of the UK GDPR Handbook as part of their course materials.    

DUA Act Workshop in Birmingham 

If you are looking to implement the changes made by the DUA Act to the UK data protection regime, consider our very popular half day workshop which is running online and in Birmingham on 5th February 2026. 

Capita Fined £14m for GDPR Data Breach 

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued a £14m fine under the UK GDPR to professional and outsourcing services company Capita. This follows a cyber-attack in March 2023 which saw hackers gain access to 6.6 million people’s personal data; from pension and staff records to the details of customers of organisations Capita supports. For some people, this included details of criminal records and financial data. 

The ICO said Capita “failed to ensure the security of processing of personal data which left it at significant risk”. Capita plc has been fined £8m and Capita Pension Solutions Limited has been fined £6m, giving a combined total of £14m. The original notice of intent totalled £45m. The ICO and Capita have now agreed to a “voluntary settlement” whereby Capita has admitted liability and agreed to pay the fine without appealing.  

Background 

The cyber- attack began when a malicious file was unintentionally downloaded onto an employee device. Despite a high priority security alert being raised within 10 minutes of the breach and some immediate automated action being taken, Capita did not quarantine the device for 58 hours, during which the attacker was able to exploit its systems. Nearly one terabyte of data was exfiltrated. On 31st March 2023, ransomware was deployed onto Capita systems and the hacker reset all user passwords, preventing Capita staff from accessing their systems and network.  

The ICO received at least 93 complaints in relation to this attack. In mitigation, Capita offered 12 months of credit monitoring to affected customers with Experian, as well as setting up a dedicated call centre for those people. It provided weekly updates to us on uptake, with over 260,000 people activating the credit monitoring service. 

ICO Findings 

The ICO investigation found that Capita failed to implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to safeguard the data they held. This included: 

  • Failure to prevent privilege escalation and unauthorised lateral movement: 
  • Capita did not implement a tiering model for administrative accounts. This allowed the attacker to escalate privileges, move laterally across multiple domains and compromise critical systems. 
  • These failings were flagged as a vulnerability on at least three separate occasions but were not remedied. 
  • Failure to respond appropriately to security alerts: 
  • A high priority security alert was raised within ten minutes of the breach, but Capita took 58 hours to respond appropriately, against a target response time of one hour. 
  • Capita’s Security Operations Centre was understaffed, and in at least six months before the incident fell well below the target response times for responding to security alerts. 
  • Inadequate penetration testing and risk assessment: 
  • Systems processing millions of records, including some sensitive data, were only subject to a penetration test upon being commissioned and were not subject to any subsequent penetration test. 
  • Findings from penetration tests were siloed within business units. Risks identified that affected the wider Capita network were not universally addressed. 

The ICO has highlighted key areas where organisations should be taking proactive steps to reduce security risks, such as: 

  • Regularly monitoring for suspicious activity and responding to initial warnings and alerts in a timely manner; 
  • Sharing the findings from penetration testing across the whole organisation so risks can be universally addressed; 
  • Prioritising investment in key security controls to ensure that they are operating effectively; and 
  • Checking agreements and responsibilities between data controllers and data processors. 

Capita Pension Solutions Limited was fined as a data processor. It processes personal data on behalf of over 600 organisations providing pension schemes, with 325 of these organisations also impacted by the data breach. This is only the second time a data processor has been fined by the ICO. In March 2025, Advanced Computer Software Group Ltd, a key IT and software provider for the NHS and other healthcare organisations, was fined £3,076,320. Hackers exploited a vulnerability through a customer account that lacked multi-factor authentication, gaining access to multiple health and care systems operated by Advanced. The ICO investigation found that personal data belonging to 79,404 people was taken. This included phone numbers, medical records, and even details on how to access the homes of 890 individuals receiving at-home care. 

This is the fifth GDPR fine issued by the ICO in 2025; four of these have been in relation to cyber security incidents.  In March an NHS IT supplier was fined £3million, in April a £60,000 fine was issued to a law firm and in June 23andMe, a US genetic testing company, was fined £2.31 million. 

We have two workshops coming up (How to Increase Cyber Security in your Organisation and Cyber Security for DPOs) which are ideal for organisations who wish to up skill their employees about cyber security. See also our Managing Personal Data Breaches Workshop. 

£6m Potential Fine for NHS IT Supplier

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has announced today that it has issued a GDPR Notice of Intent to an NHS IT supplier, Advanced Computer Software Group Ltd (Advanced), following a significant data breach in 2022.

The ICO’s preliminary decision is to impose a £6.09 million fine on Advanced.
This comes after its findings that the company failed to adequately protect the personal data of 82,946 individuals in breach of Article 32 of the UK GDPR.
As a key IT and software provider for the NHS and other healthcare organisations across the country, Advanced often holds role of Data Processor for many of its clients.

The breach in question occurred during a ransomware attack in August 2022.
Hackers exploited a vulnerability through a customer account that lacked multi-factor authentication, gaining access to multiple health and care systems operated by Advanced. The compromised data included phone numbers, medical records, and even details on how to access the homes of 890 individuals receiving at-home care.

The cyber-attack caused widespread disruption, with NHS 111 services impacted and some GPs resorting to pen and paper as electronic systems went offline. At the time, doctors warned that it could take months to clear the backlog of paperwork created by the incident.

This Notice of Intent serves as a reminder that Data Processors, like Advanced, have a duty to implement robust technical and organisational measures to safeguard personal data. This includes regularly assessing risks, applying multi-factor authentication, and keeping systems updated with the latest security patches. Data Processors cannot shift the responsibility to Data Controllers; their GDPR security obligations are independent of those of the Data Controller.

It is important to note that a Notice of Intent is not a fine — yet. It is a legal precursor, outlining the ICO’s provisional stance. Advanced now has the opportunity to make representations that could influence the final decision. This process is not without precedent: in 2018, British Airways faced a Notice of Intent for a £183 million fine due to a cybersecurity breach, but the actual fine  issued in 2020 was reduced to £20 million. Similarly, Marriott International Inc.’s fine dropped from £99 million to £18.4 million after a Notice of Intent in 2020.

It will be interesting to see how the ICO’s final decision on Advanced compares with its approach in other cases, such as the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) incident. The PSNI was issued a Notice of Intent for £750,000 earlier this year after mistakenly releasing sensitive information about every police officer and staff member in response to a Freedom of Information request.

The Act Now Advanced Certificate in GDPR Practice is designed for experienced Data Protection Officers seeking to develop their skills and confidence to tackle the most challenging data protection projects within their organisation.

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YMCA Fined for HIV Email Data Breach 

Another day and another ICO fine for a data breach involving email! The Central Young Men’s Christian Association (the Central YMCA) of London has been issued with a Monetary Penalty Notice of £7,500 for a data breach when emails intended for those on a HIV support programme were sent to 264 email addresses using CC instead of BCC, revealing the email addresses to all recipients. This resulted in 166 people being identifiable or potentially identifiable. A formal reprimand has also been issued. 

Failure to use blind carbon copy (BCC) correctly in emails is one of the top data breaches reported to the ICO every year. In December 2023, the ICO fined the Ministry of Defence (MoD) £350,000 for disclosing personal information of people seeking relocation to the UK shortly after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 2021. Again the failure to use blind copy when using e mail was a central cause of the data breach. 

Last year the Patient and Client Council (PCC) and the Executive Office were the subject of ICO reprimands for disclosing personal data in this way. In October 2021, HIV Scotland was issued with a £10,000 GDPR fine when it sent an email to 105 people which included patient advocates representing people living with HIV. All the email addresses were visible to all recipients, and 65 of the addresses identified people by name. From the personal data disclosed, an assumption could be made about individuals’ HIV status or risk.  

Organisations must have appropriate policies and training in place to minimise the risks of personal data being inappropriately disclosed via email. To avoid similar incidents, the ICO recommends that organisations should: 

  1. Consider using other secure means to send communications that involve large amounts of data or sensitive information. This could include using bulk email services, mail merge, or secure data transfer services, so information is not shared with people by mistake.  
  1. Consider having appropriate policies in place and training for staff in relation to email communications.  
  1. For non-sensitive communications, organisations that choose to use BCC should do so carefully to ensure personal email addresses are not shared inappropriately with other customers, clients, or other organisations. 

More on email best practice in the ICO’s email and security guidance. 

We have two workshops coming up (How to Increase Cyber Security and Cyber Security for DPOs) which are ideal for organisations who wish to upskill their employees about data security. We have also just launched our new workshop, Understanding GDPR Accountability and Conducting Data Protection Audits. 

The MoD GDPR Fine: The Dangers of Email 

Inadvertent disclosure of personal data on email systems has been the subject of a number of GDPR enforcement actions by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in the past few years. In 2021, the transgender charity Mermaids was fined £25,000 for failing to keep the personal data of its users secure. The ICO found that Mermaids failed to implement an appropriate level of security to its internal email systems, which resulted in documents or emails containing personal data being searchable and viewable online by third parties through internet search engine results. 

Failure to use blind carbon copy (BCC) correctly in emails is one of the top data breaches reported to the ICO every year. Last year the Patient and Client Council (PCC) and the Executive Office were the subject of ICO reprimands for disclosing personal data in this way. In October 2021, HIV Scotland was issued with a £10,000 GDPR fine when it sent an email to 105 people which included patient advocates representing people living with HIV. All the email addresses were visible to all recipients, and 65 of the addresses identified people by name. From the personal data disclosed, an assumption could be made about individuals’ HIV status or risk.  

The latest GDPR fine was issued in December 2023, although the Monetary Penalty Notice has only just been published on the ICO website. The ICO has fined the Ministry of Defence (MoD) £350,000 for disclosing personal information of people seeking relocation to the UK shortly after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 2021. 

On 20th September 2021, the MoD sent an email to a distribution list of Afghan nationals eligible for evacuation using the ‘To’ field, with personal information relating to 245 people being inadvertently disclosed. The email addresses could be seen by all recipients, with 55 people having thumbnail pictures on their email profiles.
Two people ‘replied all’ to the entire list of recipients, with one of them providing their location. 

The original email was sent by the team in charge of the UK’s Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP), which is responsible for assisting the relocation of Afghan citizens who worked for or with the UK Government in Afghanistan.
The data disclosed, should it have fallen into the hands of the Taliban, could have resulted in a threat to life. 

Under the UK GDPR, organisations must have appropriate technical and organisational measures in place to avoid disclosing people’s information inappropriately. ICO guidance makes it clear that organisations should use bulk email services, mail merge, or secure data transfer services when sending any sensitive personal information electronically. The ARAP team did not have such measures in place at the time of the incident and was relying on ‘blind carbon copy’ (BCC), which carries a significant risk of human error. 

The ICO, taking into consideration the representations from the MoD, reduced the fine from a starting amount of £1,000,000 to £700,000 to reflect the action the MoD took following the incidents and recognising the significant challenges the ARAP team faced. Under the ICO’s public sector approach, the fine was further reduced to £350,000.  

Organisations must have appropriate policies and training in place to minimise the risks of personal data being inappropriately disclosed via email. To avoid similar incidents, the ICO recommends that organisations should: 

  1. Consider using other secure means to send communications that involve large amounts of data or sensitive information. This could include using bulk email services, mail merge, or secure data transfer services, so information is not shared with people by mistake.  
  1. Consider having appropriate policies in place and training for staff in relation to email communications.  
  1. For non-sensitive communications, organisations that choose to use BCC should do so carefully to ensure personal email addresses are not shared inappropriately with other customers, clients, or other organisations. 

More on email best practice in the ICO’s email and security guidance. 

We have two workshops coming up (How to Increase Cyber Security and Cyber Security for DPOs) which are ideal for organisations who wish to upskill their employees about data security. We have also just launched our new workshop, Understanding GDPR Accountability and Conducting Data Protection Audits. 

HelloFresh fined by the ICO

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has fined food delivery company HelloFresh £140,000 for a campaign of 79 million spam emails and 1 million spam texts over a seven-month period. 

HelloFresh, under its official name Grocery Delivery E-Services UK Limited, was deemed to contravene regulation 22 of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003. 

Key points from this case include: 

  1. Inadequate Consent Mechanism: The opt-in statement used by HelloFresh did not specifically mention the use of text messages for marketing. While there was a mention of email marketing, it was ambiguously tied to an age confirmation statement, which could mislead customers into consenting. 
  1. Lack of Transparency: Customers were not properly informed that their data would continue to be used for marketing purposes for up to 24 months after they cancelled their subscriptions with HelloFresh. 
  1. Continued Contact Post Opt-Out: The ICO’s investigation revealed that HelloFresh continued to contact some individuals even after they had explicitly requested for the communications to stop. 
  1. Volume of Complaints: The investigation was triggered by numerous complaints, both to the ICO and through the 7726 spam message reporting service. 
  1. Substantial Fine: As a result of these findings, HelloFresh was fined £140,000. 
     
    Andy Curry, Head of Investigations at the ICO, emphasised the severity of the breach, noting that HelloFresh failed to provide clear opt-in and opt-out information, leading to a bombardment of unwanted marketing communications. The ICO’s decision to impose a fine reflects their commitment to enforce the law and protect customer data rights. 

This case serves as a reminder of the importance of complying with data protection and electronic communications regulations, especially in terms of obtaining clear and informed consent for marketing communications.

Dive deeper into the realm of data protection with our UK GDPR Practitioner Certificate, offering crucial insights into compliance essentials highlighted in this blog. Limited spaces are available for our January cohort – book now to enhance your understanding and navigate data regulations with confidence. 

Mega GDPR Fines for Meta

On 4th January 2023, Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) announced the conclusion of two inquiries into the data processing operations of Meta Platforms Ireland Limited (“Meta Ireland”) in connection with the delivery of its Facebook and Instagram services. Not only does this decision significantly limit Meta’s ability to gather information from its users to tailor and sell advertising, it also provides useful insight into EU regulators’ view about how to comply with Principle 1 of GDPR i.e. the need to ensure personal data is “processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to the data subject”(Article 5).

In decisions dated 31st December 2022, the DPC fined Meta Ireland €210 million and €180 million, relating to its Facebook and Instagram services respectively. The fines were imposed in connection with the company’s practise of monetising users’ personal data by running personalised adverts on their social media accounts. Information about a social media user’s digital footprint, such as what videos prompt them to stop scrolling or what types of links they click on, is used by marketers to get personalised adverts in front of people who are the most likely to buy their products. This practice helped Meta generate $118 billion in revenue in 2021.

The DPC’s decision was the result of two complaints from Facebook and Instagram users, supported by privacy campaign group NOYB, both of which raised the same basic issue: how Meta obtains legal permission from users to collect and use their personal data for personalised advertising. Article 6(1) of GDPR states that:

“Processing shall be lawful only if and to the extent that at least one of the following applies:

  1. the data subject has given consent to the processing of his or her personal data for one or more specific purposes;
  • processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which the data subject is party or in order to take steps at the request of the data subject prior to entering into a contract;”

In advance of the GDPR coming into force on 25th May 2018, Meta Ireland changed the Terms of Service for its Facebook and Instagram services. It also flagged the fact that it was changing the legal basis upon which it relies to process users’ personal data under Article 6 in the context of the delivery of the Facebook’s and Instagram’s services (including behavioural advertising). Having previously relied on the consent of users to the processing of their personal data, the company now sought to rely on the “contract” legal basis for most (but not all) of its processing operations. Existing and new users were required to click “I accept” to indicate their acceptance of the updated Terms of Service in order to continue using Facebook and Instagram. The services would not be accessible if users declined to do so.

Meta Ireland considered that, on accepting the updated Terms of Service, a contract was concluded between itself and the user. Consequently the processing of the user’s personal data in connection with the delivery of its Facebook and Instagram services was necessary for the performance of this “contract” which includes the provision of personalised services and behavioural advertising.  This, it claimed, provided a lawful basis by reference to Article 6(1)(b) of the GDPR.

The complainants contended that Meta Ireland was in fact still looking to rely on consent to provide a lawful basis for its processing of users’ data. They argued that, by making the accessibility of its services conditional on users accepting the updated Terms of Service, Meta Ireland was in fact “forcing” them to consent to the processing of their personal data for behavioural advertising and other personalised services. This was not real consent as defined in Article 4 of GDPR:

“any freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous indication of the data subject’s wishes by which he or she, by a statement or by a clear affirmative action, signifies agreement to the processing of personal data relating to him or her;” (our emphasis)

Following comprehensive investigations, consultation with other EU DP regulators (a process required by GDPR in such cases) and final rulings by the European Data Protection Board, the DPC made a number of findings; notably:

1. Meta Ireland did not provide clear information about its processing of users’ personal data, resulting in users having insufficient clarity as to what processing operations were being carried out on their personal data, for what purpose(s), and by reference to which of the six legal bases identified in Article 6. The DPC said this violated Articles 12 (transparency) and 13(1)(c) (information to be provide to the data subject) of GDPR. It also considered it to be a violation of Article 5(1)(a), which states that personal data must be processed lawfully, fairly and transparently.

2. Meta Ireland cannot rely on the contract legal basis for justifying its processing. The delivery of personalised advertising (as part of the broader suite of personalised services offered as part of the Facebook and Instagram services) could not be said to be necessary to perform the core elements of what was said to be a much more limited form of contract. The DPC adopted this position following a ruling by the EDPB, which agreed with other EU regulators’ representations to the DPC.

In addition to the fines, Meta Ireland has been directed to ensure its data processing operations comply with GDPR within a period of 3 months. It has said it will appeal; not surprising considering the decision has the potential to require it to make costly changes to its personalised advertising-based business in the European Union, one of its largest markets. 

It is important to note that this decision still allows Meta to use non-personal data (such as the content of a story) to personalise adverts or to ask users to give their consent to targeted adverts. However under GDPR users should be able to withdraw their consent at any time.  If a large number do so, it would impact one of the most valuable parts of Meta’s business. 

The forthcoming appeals by Meta will provide much needed judicial guidance on the GDPR particular Principle 1. Given the social media giant’s deep pockets, expect this one to run and run.

This and other GDPR developments will be discussed in detail on our forthcoming GDPR Update workshop. 

Are you an experienced GDPR Practitioner wanting to take your skills to the next level? See our Advanced Certificate in GDPR Practice.

£4.4 Million GDPR Fine for Construction Company 

This month the UK Information Commissioner’s Office has issued two fines and one Notice of Intent under GDPR. 

The latest fine is three times more than that imposed on Easylife Ltd on 5th October. Yesterday, Interserve Group Ltd was fined £4.4 million for failing to keep personal information of its staff secure.  

The ICO found that the Berkshire based construction company failed to put appropriate security measures in place to prevent a cyber-attack, which enabled hackers to access the personal data of up to 113,000 employees through a phishing email. The compromised data included personal information such as contact details, national insurance numbers, and bank account details, as well as special category data including ethnic origin, religion, details of any disabilities, sexual orientation, and health information. 

The Phishing Email 

In March 2020, an Interserve employee forwarded a phishing email, which was not quarantined or blocked by Interserve’s IT system, to another employee who opened it and downloaded its content. This resulted in the installation of malware onto the employee’s workstation. 

The company’s anti-virus quarantined the malware and sent an alert, but Interserve failed to thoroughly investigate the suspicious activity. If they had done so, Interserve would have found that the attacker still had access to the company’s systems. 

The attacker subsequently compromised 283 systems and 16 accounts, as well as uninstalling the company’s anti-virus solution. Personal data of up to 113,000 current and former employees was encrypted and rendered unavailable. 

The ICO investigation found that Interserve failed to follow-up on the original alert of a suspicious activity, used outdated software systems and protocols, and had a lack of adequate staff training and insufficient risk assessments, which ultimately left them vulnerable to a cyber-attack. Consequently, Interserve had breached Article 5 and Article 32 of GDPR by failing to put appropriate technical and organisational measures in place to prevent the unauthorised access of people’s information. 

Notice of Intent 

Interestingly in this case the Notice of Intent (the pre cursor to the fine) was for also for £4.4million i.e. no reductions were made by the ICO despite Interserve’s representations. Compare this to the ICO’s treatment of two much bigger companies who also suffered cyber security breaches. In July 2018, British Airways was issued with a Notice of Intent in the sum of £183 Million but the actual fine was reduced to £20 million in July 2020. In November 2020 Marriott International Inc was fined £18.4 million, much lower than the £99 million set out in the original notice. 

The Information Commissioner, John Edwards, has warned that companies are leaving themselves open to cyber-attack by ignoring crucial measures like updating software and training staff: 

“The biggest cyber risk businesses face is not from hackers outside of their company, but from complacency within their company. If your business doesn’t regularly monitor for suspicious activity in its systems and fails to act on warnings, or doesn’t update software and fails to provide training to staff, you can expect a similar fine from my office. 

Leaving the door open to cyber attackers is never acceptable, especially when dealing with people’s most sensitive information. This data breach had the potential to cause real harm to Interserve’s staff, as it left them vulnerable to the possibility of identity theft and financial fraud.” 

We have been here before. On 10th March the ICO  fined Tuckers Solicitors LLP £98,000 following a ransomware attack on the firm’s IT systems in August 2020. The attacker had encrypted 972,191 files, of which 24,712 related to court bundles.  60 of those were exfiltrated by the attacker and released on the dark web.   

Action Points  

Organisations need to strengthen their defences and have plans in place; not just to prevent a cyber-attack but what to do when it does takes place. Here are our top tips: 

  1. Conduct a cyber security risk assessment and consider an external accreditation through  Cyber Essentials. 
  1. Ensure your employees know the risks of malware/ransomware and follows good security practice. At the time of the cyber-attack, one of the two Interserve employees who received the phishing email had not undertaken data protection training. (Our GDPR Essentials  e-learning solution is a very cost effective e learning solution which contains a specific module on keeping data safe.)  
  1. Have plans in place for a cyber security breach. See our Managing Personal Data Breaches workshop.  
  1. Earlier in the year, the ICO worked with NCSC to remind organisations not to pay a ransom in case of a cyber-attack, as it does not reduce the risk to individuals and is not considered as a reasonable step to safeguard data. For more information, take a look at the ICO ransomware guidance or visit the NCSC website to learn about mitigating a ransomware threat via their business toolkit. 

This and other GDPR developments will be discussed in detail on our forthcoming GDPR Update workshop.  

Are you an experienced GDPR Practitioner wanting to take your skills to the next level? Our Advanced Certificate in GDPR Practice starts on 21st November.  

£1.35 Million GDPR Fine for Catalogue Retailer

On 5th October, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) issued a GDPR Monetary Penalty Notice in the sum of £1,350,000 to Easylife Ltd. The catalogue retailer was found to have been using 145,400 customers personal data to predict their medical condition and then, without their consent, targeting them with health-related products.

This latest ICO fine is interesting but not because of the amount involved. There have been much higher fines. In October 2020, British Airways was fined £20 million for a cyber security breach which saw the personal and financial details of more than 400,000 customers being accessed by hackers. This, like most of the other ICO fines, involved a breach of the security provisions of GDPR. In the Easylife fine, the ICO focussed on the more interesting GDPR provisions (from a practitioner’s perspective) relating to legal basis, profiling and transparency. 

The background to the fine is that a telemarketing company was being investigated by the ICO for promoting funeral plans during the pandemic. This led to the investigation into Easylife because the company was conducting marketing calls for Easylife. The investigation initially concerned potential contraventions of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR), and that investigation raised concerns of potential contraventions of GDPR, which the Commissioner then investigated separately.

The ICO investigation found that when a customer purchased a product from Easylife’s Health Club catalogue, the company would make assumptions about their medical condition and then market health-related products to them without their consent. For example, if a person bought a jar opener or a dinner tray, Easylife would use that purchase data to assume that person has arthritis and then call them to market glucosamine joint patches.

Special Category Data and Profiling

Article 4( 4) of the GDPR defines profiling:
“‘profiling’ means any form of automated processing of personal data consisting of the use of personal data to evaluate certain personal aspects relating to a natural person, in particular to analyse or predict aspects concerning that natural person’s performance at work, economic situation, health, personal preferences, interests, reliability, behaviour, location or movements;”

Out of 122 products in Easylife’s Health Club catalogue, 80 were considered to be ‘trigger products’. Once these products were purchased by customers, Easlylife would target them with a health-related item. The ICO found that significant profiling of customers was taking place. 

Easylife’s use of customer transactional data to infer that the customer probably had a particular health condition was Special Category Data. Article 6 and 9 of the GDPR provides that such data may not be processed unless a lawfulness condition can be found. The only relevant condition in the context of Easylife’s health campaign was explicit consent. Easylife did not collect consent to process Special Category Data, instead relying on legitimate interest (based on its privacy notice) under Article 6. As a result, it had no lawful basis to process the data in contravention of Article 6 and Article 9 of the GDPR. 

Invisible Processing

Furthermore the ICO concluded that ‘invisible’ processing of health data took place. It was ‘invisible’ because Easylife’s customers were unaware that the company was collecting and using their personal data for profiling/marketing purposes. In order to process this data lawfully, Easylife would have had to collect explicit consent from the customers and to update its privacy policy to indicate that Special Category Data was to be processed by consent. Easylife’s omission to do this was a breach of Article 13(1)(c) of the GDPR.

John Edwards, UK Information Commissioner, said:

“Easylife was making assumptions about people’s medical condition based on their purchase history without their knowledge, and then peddled them a health product – that is not allowed.

The invisible use of people’s data meant that people could not understand how their data was being used and, ultimately, were not able to exercise their privacy and data protection rights. The lack of transparency, combined with the intrusive nature of the profiling, has resulted in a serious breach of people’s information rights.”

One other ICO monetary penalty notice has examined these issues in detail. In May 2022 Clearview AI was fined £7,552,800 following an investigation into its online database contains 20 billion images of people’s faces scraped from the internet. 

As Jon Baines pointed out (thanks Jon!), on the Jiscmail bulletin board, a large chunk of the online programmatic advertising market also profiles people and infers Special Category Data in the same way as Easylife. This was highlighted in the ICO’s 2019 report. The ICO said in January last year that it was resuming its Adtech investigation, but there has been very little news since then.

GDPR was not the only cause of Easylife’s woes. It was also fined £130,000 under PECR for making 1,345,732 direct marketing calls to people registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS).

This case also shows the importance of organisations only using  telephone marketing companies who understand and comply with GDPR and PECR. If not, the ICO enforcement spotlight will also fall on clients of such companies.

This and other GDPR developments will be discussed in detail on our forthcoming GDPR Update workshop. 

Are you an experienced GDPR Practitioner wanting to take your skills to the next level? Our Advanced Certificate in GDPR Practice starts on 25th October. 

TikTok Faces a £27 Million GDPR Fine

On 26 September 2022, TikTok was issued with a Notice of Intent under the GDPR by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The video-sharing platform faces a £27 million fine after an ICO investigation found that the company may have breached UK data protection law.  

The notice sets out the ICO’s provisional view that TikTok breached UK data protection law between May 2018 and July 2020. It found the company may have:

  • processed the data of children under the age of 13 without appropriate parental consent,
  • failed to provide proper information to its users in a concise, transparent and easily understood way, and
  • processed special category data, without legal grounds to do so.

The Information Commissioner, John Edwards said:

“We all want children to be able to learn and experience the digital world, but with proper data privacy protections. Companies providing digital services have a legal duty to put those protections in place, but our provisional view is that TikTok fell short of meeting that requirement.

“I’ve been clear that our work to better protect children online involves working with organisations but will also involve enforcement action where necessary. In addition to this, we are currently looking into how over 50 different online services are conforming with the Children’s code and have six ongoing investigations looking into companies providing digital services who haven’t, in our initial view, taken their responsibilities around child safety seriously enough.”

Rolled out in September last year, the Children’s Code puts in place new data protection standards for online services likely to be accessed by children.

It will be interesting to see if and when this notice becomes an actual fine. If it does it will be the largest fine issued by the ICO. It is also the first potential fine to look at transparency and consent and will provide valuable guidance to Data Controllers especially if it is appealed to the Tribunal.  

It is important to note that this is not a fine but ‘notice of intent’ – a legal document that precedes a potential fine. The notice sets out the ICO’s provisional view which may of course change after TikTok makes representations. 

Remember we have been here before. In July 2018 British Airways was issued with a Notice of Intent in the sum of £183 Million but the actual fine was for £20 million issued in July 2020. In November 2020Marriott International Inc was fined £18.4 million, much lower than the £99 million set out in the original notice.

This is not the first time TikTok has found itself in hot water of over its data handling practices. In 2019, the company was given a record $5.7m fine by the Federal Trade Commission, for mishandling children’s data. It has also been fined in South Korea for similar reasons.

Are you an experienced GDPR Practitioner wanting to take your skills to the next level? Our Advanced Certificate in GDPR Practice starts on 25th October.