BA GDPR Data Breach Fine Lowered to £20m Due to COVID-19

The fine against British Airways for GDPR failings has been reduced to £20m from the original £183m intent to fine issued last July.

An ICO investigation found the airline was processing a significant amount of personal data without adequate security measures in place, leading to a cyber-attack during 2018, which it did not detect for more than two months. It said the amount to be fined (£20m) was considered with both representation from BA and the economic impact of COVID-19 on the business.

The ICO also said, as the breach happened in June 2018, before the UK left the EU, the ICO investigated on behalf of all EU authorities as lead supervisory authority under the GDPR. The penalty and action have been approved by the other EU DPAs through the GDPR’s cooperation process.

According to the penalty notice, a proposed penalty of £183.39m was issued on July 4 2019 with a extension till March 21 2020 agreed in December. On April 3 2020, the ICO wrote to BA requesting information regarding the impact of COVID-19 on its financial position, and having considered BA’s representations, both BA and the ICO “agreed to a series of further extensions of the statutory deadline to 30 September.

Rachel Aldighieri, managing director of the Data & Marketing Association (DMA), said: “Brexit and coronavirus have put businesses under immense financial strain and a fine of this magnitude will get the attention of board members of organizations across the UK. They will certainly not ..

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