Reply to: Nixon Williams hit by Cyber Security incident

[edison]

ICO have reported back on this it seems.

https://www.contractoruk.com/news/00...tack_2022.html

ICO have given Caroola a 'reprimand'.

Whoop de doo!

Just to show how useless Caroola is, I've had multiple reminders and now a 'final warning' for not submitting details for my self assessment return despite me moving to a new accountant nine months ago and emailing them to inform them to stop contacting me.

[saptastic]

ICO have reported back on this it seems.

https://www.contractoruk.com/news/00...tack_2022.html

[Lance]

Also where can I make a complaint as one year’s worth of Experian really doesn’t cover the cost as this will be a lifelong issue of me having to protect my details from now on.

The ICO handle data breaches. But they're not gonna get you any compensation.
Information Commissioner's Office (ICO)

Other than that your best bet is raise a complaint with Optionis directly (good luck with that as they'll not give you any more than they already have).

[Sheens83]

I stopped using Nixon William 10 yrs ago I got an email from them today Dec 13th nearly a year after they knew telling me dob, address and ni number were stolen offering me free Exprian with a code that does not work. For others impacted and notified earlier on what's current the status of this all?

Same here, just received a letter regarding this hack which came as a shock as I left SJD 2 years ago and never received communication from them about the hack earlier this year. If I had known earlier I would have set up an Experian much sooner…. I am livid! The data copied was my name, address, dob & NI.

For reference I was using their old spreadsheet accounts service and never migrated to their online portal so this was clearly a hack on their client details and not their online portal.

Apart from Experian & CIFAS is there any further steps I can take to protect myself?

Also where can I make a complaint as one year’s worth of Experian really doesn’t cover the cost as this will be a lifelong issue of me having to protect my details from now on.

[Fred Bloggs]

Also the same, left them about 2 years ago, had an email informing me the same and also the Experian code doesn't work. Not that worried by the Experian thing (if the breach happened a year ago then well, I'd have noticed by now). Would have been nice to be informed sooner though...

Edit... going over the history in this thread, it seems like I got out of NW in the nick of time. Shame, they were a really decent and good value operation back when I first started out.

You definitely did the right thing there. I have always been surprised at how many people seem reluctant to change accountant when the service received by the client gets to the point it's truly beyond dismal. In any case, it seems from recent HMRC actions that the best times for the pile 'em high sausage machine style contractor accountant is in the past. I think that's actually a good thing if it means people have to face up to taking more responsibility for running an incorporated business. So much the better. For those who can't be bothered, there's other options.

[SanMiguel]

Same here. I stopped using them about four years ago. First I've heard about it is the email received today. Apparently name, address, DOB, NI number stolen. Experian code does not work.

Also the same, left them about 2 years ago, had an email informing me the same and also the Experian code doesn't work. Not that worried by the Experian thing (if the breach happened a year ago then well, I'd have noticed by now). Would have been nice to be informed sooner though...

Edit... going over the history in this thread, it seems like I got out of NW in the nick of time. Shame, they were a really decent and good value operation back when I first started out.

[I just need to test it]

I left Clearsky four years ago. Yesterday's email was the first time I remember hearing about the data leak but I can see that Optionis sent a secure email in May (message no longer available). I have no recollection of the contents of that mail (grr, old age ?).

[themoog]

I stopped using Nixon William 12 yrs ago I got an email from them today Dec 13th nearly a year after they knew telling me dob, address and ni number were stolen offering me free Exprian with a code that does not work. For others impacted and notified earlier on what's current the status of this all?

Same here. I stopped using them about four years ago. First I've heard about it is the email received today. Apparently name, address, DOB, NI number stolen. Experian code does not work.

[BoggyMcCBoggyFace]

I stopped using Nixon William 10 yrs ago I got an email from them today Dec 13th nearly a year after they knew telling me dob, address and ni number were stolen offering me free Exprian with a code that does not work. For others impacted and notified earlier on what's current the status of this all?

[youngguy]

Was about to post "please keep us all updated because I'll be waiting until day 31 to speak with the ICO", but obviously that's irrelevant now.

In any case, please keep us updated as you'll hear back from them 3 weeks before me

Took ICO 11 weeks and the first Q was "do you still need us or is everything sorted?"


In my case, I'd managed to sort myself.

[PerfectStorm]

Has anyone gone up to their offices to see if there's even anyone in?

[TerminallyDisappointed]

no response so have raised a complaint with the ICO today.
They are going bankrupt...... If they are still your accountant then write them off and find another (I can't believe this still has to be said).

+1 on leaving NW.

Great news on the escalation to ICO. Following the ICO upholding my complaint, the ICO instructed NW that they had not done enough, and directed them to answer the question in the letter you provided. NW have responded today to advise that it has an external IT security consultant helping, that it had taken a long time to download from the darkweb because the darkweb is inherently unstable. They have begun the process on analysing the downloaded data and will come back to me if they find anything significant details of mine. No mention of timescale but inferred it will be a long time.

Funny you mention they sent you a third parties contact record, they did this with me too.

Glad to be rid of the shower!

[Friday Blue]

Communications about the incident and what's happened to my data has been non-existent and there have been no further public updates that I'm aware of.

However, I've not had any problems with day-to-day accounting since they got services back online, either via NW or Parasol. My accountant has sent my VAT returns and responded to queries.
I've now started the process of closing my Ltd. company and my enquiry was passed over to that team on the same day. The person I've been dealing with has been very helpful and responding quickly (mostly within the hour) to my questions.

not me. my accountant went on "holiday" for a month back in March. no one picked up any of my request and any of my complaints. One of the mistake was that, the guy couldnt even pro-rate correctly on VAT return. After pointing out the mistake, my VAT return draft was stucked in their inbox for a month. The guy is supposed to be back from holiday in April, but i later found out he apparently went on holiday again. except, this time he didnt even set the out-of-office auto-reply. I was then left hanging for another month. I only found out last week after calling their general helpline to see wtf is going on. To make it even worse, the guy clearly is trying to play games, he deleted all his contact info in his email signature so i have no way to contact. His boss didnt feel the need to respond to any of my emails in April even after telling him i will consider leaving if not dealt with swiftly. And, guess what, after the complaint over the general helpline, the guy suddenly came back from holiday, but instead of trying to helpful, he claimed he sent me data request for last year data (which they should have) and trying to blame me for all the delays....amazing a firm that is already down and has staff that treat their remaining clients like this. anyway, i sent my notice of termination, im done with NW.

[MooTills]

Communications about the incident and what's happened to my data has been non-existent and there have been no further public updates that I'm aware of.

However, I've not had any problems with day-to-day accounting since they got services back online, either via NW or Parasol. My accountant has sent my VAT returns and responded to queries.
I've now started the process of closing my Ltd. company and my enquiry was passed over to that team on the same day. The person I've been dealing with has been very helpful and responding quickly (mostly within the hour) to my questions.

I think you've been very lucky here. The comms from them to me is still pretty non existent...

[Fred Bloggs]

no response so have raised a complaint with the ICO today.
They are going bankrupt...... If they are still your accountant then write them off and find another (I can't believe this still has to be said).

Even if in reality they aren't, nobody here has any excuse to still be a customer of NW or other accountants owned by the same interests. It's insane anyone stayed there this long really.