In January 2022, Parasol Group shut down some of its systems after it discovered “malicious activity” on its network.
Parasol is an umbrella company used by contractors across the UK to manage their payments. By taking down its systems in a multi-day outage, many contractor salary payments were delayed.
Parasol confirmed that a cyberattack was to blame for the incident. This is widely speculated to be a ransomware attack. Parasol later admitted that personal data was accessed by cybercriminals. Some of this data has been shared online.
The Keller Lenkner UK investigators believe that the following contractor data was accessed in the breach:
Parasol employee data including training and sick records are also thought to be affected.
IF YOU ARE AFFECTED BY THE PARASOL DATA BREACH, CONTACT US TO MAKE A NO-WIN, NO-FEE COMPENSATION CLAIM.
Other companies owned by Optionis include:
Our investigations show that the following businesses were affected by the same cyberattack: Optionis, Optionis Group, Parasol, Arkarius Midco, Arkarius Bidco, Optionis Midco, SJD Accountancy, Nixon Williams, First Freelance, First Umbrella, Optionis Bidco, Clearsky Accountancy and Payroll, Optionis Management, Clearsky Contractor Accounting, Silverline Performance, Wheatley Pearce, Arc Licensed Trade Consultancy, Brian Alfred, and Arnsco.
If your data was compromised in this incident, but it has not yet been shared on the dark web, there is no guarantee that this won’t happen.
The hackers might also choose to sell the records to other criminals.
Similar data breaches have resulted in fraud, blackmail, identity theft and more, so many contractors are experiencing high levels of distress.
Those affected by the incident could have a compensation claim.
REGISTER TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE PARASOL GROUP ACTION.
Keller Lenkner UK launched an action to help those involved in the security failure claim compensation. We have now issued a notice of potential claim against Optionis Group Limited.
Parasol is owned by Optionis Group. Other companies in this Group include Clearsky Business, Clearsky Contractor Accounting, SJD Accountancy, First Freelance, Optionis Accountancy and Nixon Williams. These businesses provide services to around 28,000 contractors.
Find out more about making a group action claim for compensation.
What does no-win, no-fee actually mean and are there really no costs if you appoint us?
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We represent clients in group actions and individual cases with innovation, resources, and expertise.
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We have all the resources and global expertise necessary to take on complicated cases and win.
We have offices in Chancery Lane London, Birmingham and Liverpool, and the technology to provide a nationwide service, so we can help clients across England & Wales.
We use technology to deliver a better legal experience to our clients.
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See our answers to the FAQs we get asked about the Parasol data security incident.
Parasol Group shut down some of its systems after it discovered “malicious activity” on its network. The incident, which is believed to be a ransomware attack, resulted in the exfiltration of some contractor and employee information. This data was then posted online.
The stolen information includes personal and financial contractor data. Some employee information is also thought to be affected.
If you are a Parasol customer or employee, you could be affected by this breach. Parasol has a legal obligation to tell you if your information is compromised. However, Parasol has not yet identified whose data was accessed.
Anyone who thinks they might be involved should take immediate steps to protect themselves. Our data protection lawyers have created a handy guide to help keep you safe.
If Parasol informs you that your data is involved in this breach, you can join our no-win, no-fee compensation claim. There are no costs to register and no obligation to proceed.
A group action claim is where a group of people – sometimes even thousands of people – have been affected by the same issue. Group action cases are also known as class actions, multi-claimant, or multi-party actions.
There are no costs to join a claim. However, if your claim is successful, you may have to pay a ‘success fee’. This fee is taken from the compensation awarded to you. At Keller Lenkner UK, our success fee is competitive, and we make sure you are fully informed about any potential costs before you officially join our action. If you lose, you won’t have to pay a penny.
While each case is judged on its own merits, there are some things we would typically look for when it comes to when claiming compensation following a data breach, cybercrime or other GDPR violation:
With stolen data, cybercriminals can make purchases using your bank and credit cards, apply for credit in your name, set up fraudulent bank accounts and access your existing online accounts.
GDPR failures, cybercrime and data breaches can have a significant impact on you, both mentally and physically. They can cause or exacerbate anxiety, stress and other psychological conditions.
Keller Lenkner UK has been shortlisted in three categories at the Modern Law Awards 2022. These categories are ‘Business Growth Award’, ‘Innovation of the Year’ and ‘Boutique Law Firm’. We have also been shortlisted for ‘Law Firm of the Year’ at the 2022 LexisNexis Legal Awards.
This follows our 2021 success where we were shortlisted in the ‘Independent Law Firm of the Year’ and ‘Strategic Legal Operations Team of the Year’ categories at The British Legal Awards, and the ‘Disputes Boutique Firm of the Year’ category at The Lawyer Awards.
