Current and former Greencore employees call on lawyers after company is hit by cyber-attack

16/03/2022
Christine Sabino of Hayes Connor. (Photo by Katie Lucas Photography)

A GROUP of current and former employees of a major UK-based convenience food manufacturer, which has a regional distribution centre in Glasgow and transport hubs in Dundee and Inverness, are considering legal action after it emerged that the company had been affected by a data breach.

In a letter issued last month, Greencore Group PLC explained how it had experienced IT disruption on part of its network in the middle of December. It added that the problems were caused by a third party attempting to access its systems.

The company explained that those responsible were able to access internal business documents containing information on current and former members of staff. It is thought that the data included their roles and salaries, as well as personal information like bank account details and National Insurance numbers.

The company employs around 13,000 people across 35 locations all over the UK and Ireland. It has sites from Inverness to Plymouth.

Specialist data breach law firm Hayes Connor is now working with over 35 individuals affected by this incident and is receiving new enquiries on an almost daily basis. Now, the lawyers are calling for Greencore to work quickly to provide further information on what has happened.

Christine Sabino, the legal specialist at Hayes Connor who is representing those affected, said: “The information we have received is hugely concerning and further answers are clearly needed.”

“Greencore claims there is no evidence that data has been misused, but there is no way to tell for certain that this is the case. No guarantees can be provided about the future either.”

“This company employs thousands of people across a range of sites, but no real indication has been provided on how many have been affected. While we have heard first-hand from a number of people worried by these developments, there will likely be many more who are also concerned about what has happened.”

“Employers have a duty to ensure that incredibly sensitive information is kept safe and secure, so this type of incident warrants a significant investigation. We have started to make our own enquiries into the case and are determined to ensure that our clients get the answers and justice they deserve.”

Hayes Connor was one of the first law firms in the UK to specialise in data protection law and data breach claims and has one of the largest teams of data breach experts in the country. It acts for clients on individual data breaches and also where the private information of a group of people has been compromised as part of a targeted attack or a large-scale data breach.

The Latest Stories

Leading Scottish microbiology firm moves to employee ownership
New study reveals that Brits are spending £9.41 per day working remotely
Almost 80% of Scottish tech sector optimistic for 2024
Poor but improving: Scottish economy slowly recovering in line with expectations