Morrisons sued by 2000 staff for data breach

Morrisons had to put in place fraud protection for some 100,000 employees whose personal details were posted online in 2013

Morrisons is being sued by more than 2000 staff after some of their personal and financial details were posted online.

Morrisons had to put in place fraud protection for some 100,000 employees whose personal details were posted online in 2013.

The security breach happened when a rogue company auditor got through the company’s controls and leaked the data. Andrew Skelton, the auditor in question, has since been sentenced to eight years in jail for the leak.

A fraction of the staff affected have said that Morrisons should have done more to protect their data.

"My clients' position is that Morrisons failed to prevent a data leak which exposed tens of thousands of its employees to the very real risk of identity theft and potential loss," Nick McAleenan, a data privacy lawyer representing the staff, told the BBC.

A spokesman for Morrisons said that the supermarket was not aware of any financial losses for individuals affected by the breach. “We are contesting this case and we are not accep6ting liability for the actions of a rogue individual. We can confirm that we’re not aware that anyone suffered any financial loss from this breach,” the spokesman said.

The size of the claim has not been decided.