My Data Was in a Breach. What Should I Actually Do?
1 April 2026 · Mary Molloy Solicitors
The letter says your data was involved in a security incident, apologises, and offers vigilance advice. Most people file it and hope. A better response takes an hour and splits into three tracks: protect yourself, preserve the record, and assess your options without either panic or fantasy.
Protect first
Change the password on the affected account and anywhere it was reused, and turn on two-factor authentication. Treat unexpected calls, texts and emails referencing the breached service as hostile until proven otherwise — breached data fuels tailored phishing for months. Where financial details were involved, watch statements, alert your bank, and consider the protective measures the notification offers, reading any terms before signing anything that mentions release or settlement.
Preserve the record
Keep the notification letter and every follow-up. Note dates: when the breach happened, when they say they discovered it, when they told you — gaps between those dates matter legally. Screenshot suspicious contact that follows. If the breach causes real effects — fraud attempts, anxiety you attend a doctor about, workplace or family fallout from a disclosure — record them as they happen. Contemporaneous evidence is what separates compensable damage from unprovable assertion.
Assess honestly
Ask the organisation what exactly was exposed and what they have done — you are entitled to clarity, and an access request will extract your record of the incident if answers are vague. A DPC complaint fits where the handling was poor. A compensation claim fits where you suffered genuine damage, financial or psychological — and Irish awards for ordinary distress cases are modest, so let the facts, not the headlines, set your expectations. We will tell you within one conversation which category your situation occupies.
Read more in our main guide: GDPR Compensation Claims: Suing for a Data Breach · or back to the blog.
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