At a seminar in Dublin, hosted by DWF, data protection experts considered the potential for data breaches to become the ‘personal injury claim of the future’.Under the Irish Data Protection Act 2018, the people identified, or identifiable, from processed data are now empowered to seek compensation. Claims can be made for non-material damage. So  ‘injury to feelings’ can now be factored in.This new legislation creates the potential for a major expansion of liability claims to both controllers and processors of data.

Litigation potential

The seminar panelists  - DWF partner Eimear Collins, Paul Anthony McDermott SC and Professor Eoin O’Dell - explored the question: “Will data become the new ‘claim’, not just for infringement of data rights, but in all kinds of civil disputes?”The panel advised businesses’ to look at options to mitigate risk, including specialist cyber security insurance. Ensuring that data breach management is factored into incident response plans and processes was recommended too.