Since news broke regarding the British Airways data breach, the airline - which is already facing massive fines of up to £500 million from the Information Commissioner’s Office – is now set to face legal action from customers who have suffered financial losses.

The legal action was instigated by SPG Law, who are seeking compensation for their clients, not only for their financial losses, but also claiming costs for the “inconvenience, distress, and misuse” of their personal data.  

SPG Law confirmed that they have sent the airline a “Letter before action” document, in order to commence discussion regarding settlement. Within the letter, it states that If BA refuse to cooperate this will result in group litigation, which would allow the courts to manage numerous cases against them at once.

Tom Goodhead, a Partner at SPG Law discussed the airlines failings, stating:

In the past year there have been an array of high-profile data breaches from some of the UK’s biggest organisations including: British Airways, Dixons Carphone, and Ticketmaster UK.

It is alarming that such large established organisations have jeopardised not only their company’s data, but also the personal data of their customers, through their lack of cyber security.

Many cybersecurity experts believe that a data breach can occur due to a simple mistake being made possibly when updating systems or when processing the migration of data. Although there has been a substantial amount of investment placed on cybersecurity, there are still gaps in the basic procedures, which must be addressed.