WH Smith Data Breach – Employee information exposed in Cyber Attack

Current and former employees of WH Smith have been informed that their data has been breached following a recent cyber-attack.

The high street retailer has confirmed that hackers were able to illegally access company data, including employee information.

WH Smith have released a statement, confirming the news. It reads:

"Upon becoming aware of the incident, we immediately launched an investigation, engaged specialist support services and implemented our incident response plans, which included notifying the relevant authorities.

“WH Smith takes the issue of cyber security extremely seriously and investigations into the incident are ongoing. We are notifying all affected colleagues and have put measures in place to support them.

There has been no impact on the trading activities of the Group. Our website, customer accounts and underlying customer databases are on separate systems that are unaffected by this incident.”

WH Smith has not confirmed exactly what type of employee data was exposed in the breach.

If you are a WH Smith employee, or former employee, and you have been contacted to inform you that your data is at risk following the breach, you may be in a position to make a claim for compensation.

At Hayes Connor, our specialist data breach solicitors are ready to advise anyone who has been affected by the WH Smith data breach. We will be able to provide tailored guidance on whether you have a right to make a claim, and how the general claims process works. To find out more about making a claim and how you can get started, please get in touch.

What to do if you are concerned about the WH Smith data breach

If your data has been exposed as a result of the cyber-attack against WH Smith, the company should contact you directly to inform you of the situation. However, while WH Smith have publicly stated that they will be doing this, mistakes can often be made, meaning it is not a 100% guarantee that you will be correctly notified.

If you have not been contacted by WH Smith and you suspect that your data may be at risk, the first step you should take would be to get in touch with them as soon as possible.

At this stage, you should also be wary of any unexpected communications, especially where they appear to have come from WH Smith. These could be cleverly disguised ‘phishing attacks’ which are designed to extract further personal information from you.

There are a number of ways to reduce the potential risk of cybercriminals using your personal data against you. To find out more about this, read our helpful guide on what to do if your data has been stolen in a data breach.

If you have been affected by the WH Smith data breach, you could be entitled to compensation. This is where our data breach experts at Hayes Connor can step in to help you.

How Hayes Connor can help you claim compensation for the WH Smith data breach

Your employer has a range of legal obligations with regards to storing your personal data. This will include taking the correct measures to prevent any cyber-attacks which would lead to the data falling into the wrong hands. If your employer fails to uphold this obligation, as WH Smith have in this instance, anyone affected could make a claim.

At Hayes Connor, we have one of the largest team of dedicated data breach specialists in the country. Among our team, we have a wealth of combined expertise and experience, which we put to use when handling all types of data breach claims.

Our team can work closely with you to get a good understanding of your personal circumstances and how the breach has affected you. This will then inform us on whether you will be eligible to make a claim, and we can then proceed to explain how the process will work.

We are aware that learning you are the innocent victim of a data breach can be incredibly distressing. As such, we will take the time to also provide close personal support during this time, and will make the entire process as straightforward and stress-free as possible.

You can find out more about our expertise and how we handle data breach claims here.

To start a claim, you can use our online claim form.

To speak to a member of our team about the WH Smith data breach, please do not hesitate to give us a call on 0330 041 5131.