Fifth Person Arrested And Culture, Media and Sport Committee Inquiry Closes

The TalkTalk hack develops as the police make fifth arrest in relation to the cyber-attack, however leading experts at Irwin Mitchell believe more needs to be done by organisations and businesses to protect their data in the first place. 

Metropolitan Police confirmed that an 18-year-old man from Llanelli has been arrested on suspicion of blackmail and taken into custody at a Dyfed Powys police station.

TalkTalk’s recent security breach highlights the growing danger of cyber-attacks in the UK, resulting in the UK’s Culture, Media and Sport Committee’s launching an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the data breach and the wider implications for telecoms and internet service providers. 

The Committee invited views in response to the following areas:

• The nature of the cyber-attacks on TalkTalk’s website and TalkTalk’s response to the latest incident
• The robustness of measures that telecoms and internet service providers are putting in place to maintain the security of their customers’ personal data and the level of investment being made to ensure their systems remain secure and anticipate future threats
• The nature, role and importance of encryption in protecting personal data
• The adequacy of the supervisory, regulatory and enforcement regimes currently in place to ensure companies are responding sufficiently to cyber-crime
• The adequacy of the redress mechanisms and compensatory measures for consumers when security breaches occur and individuals’ personal data are compromised
• Likely future trends in hacking, technology and security

The deadline for responses was Monday 23 November, and it is anticipated that the Committee will hear evidence later this month. 

Georgie Collins, Partner and specialist intellectual property, privacy and media lawyer at Irwin Mitchell, said: