What Happened with Capita
The attack began when a malicious file was unintentionally downloaded to an employee device on the 22nd of March 2023. Although a high-priority alert triggered quickly, the affected device was not quarantined for 58 hours. During this window, the attacker moved laterally, escalated privileges, accessed wider systems, and exfiltrated close to a terabyte of personal data. Ransomware was then deployed, disrupting staff access and operations.
Data involved included pension records, staff information and, for some individuals, sensitive details such as financial data, criminal-record information, and special category data. Capita later offered credit monitoring and customer support while it implemented security improvements.
How the ICO Enforces UK Data Protection Law
The UK’s supervisory authority, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), enforces the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. The ICO can issue monetary penalties, reprimands, and enforcement notices, and it assesses each case against the nature, gravity, and duration of the infringement; scope and impact on individuals; intent or negligence; mitigation steps taken; cooperation with the regulator; and any prior infringements.
The ICO’s fining approach considers factors such as the scale of processing, sensitivity of data, risk exposure, and whether “appropriate technical and organizational measures” (Article 32) were in place and effective. For large, well-resourced organizations, the regulator expects robust, tested, and timely controls—especially around privileged access, security monitoring, incident response, and vulnerability management.
Maximum penalties under the UK GDPR can reach the higher of £17.5 million or 4% of global annual turnover for the most serious infringements.
Other Notable ICO Penalties and Trends
- British Airways (£20m, 2020): Penalty for security failings linked to a 2018 incident affecting hundreds of thousands of customers. The final fine reflected reductions after company representations and mitigation.
- Marriott International (£18.4m, 2020): Penalty for failings related to long-running exposure within the Starwood systems inherited by Marriott.
- PECR enforcement (direct marketing): The ICO regularly issues monetary penalties under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations for unlawful marketing calls, texts, and emails. Recent actions include multi-hundred-thousand-pound fines across energy and other sectors.
Taken together, these cases show the ICO’s willingness to levy substantial fines where systemic security or compliance gaps expose large numbers of people to harm—while also using reprimands and enforcement notices to drive improvements across the market.
Why UK GDPR Compliance Matters
Beyond the headline numbers, UK GDPR compliance is about protecting people from real-world harms fraud, identity theft, discrimination, and loss of trust. Failures carry material costs: incident response, legal spend, compensation, operational disruption, reputational damage, and long-term customer attrition. Conversely, a strong privacy and security posture reduces risk, accelerates enterprise sales, and strengthens brand credibility with customers and partners.
What “Appropriate Technical and Organizational Measures” Look Like
- Risk-based security design: Role-based and least-privilege access, privileged access management, network segmentation, strong identity controls (MFA, conditional access), and encryption at rest and in transit.
- Monitoring and response: 24/7 alert triage with clear SLAs, automated containment, incident runbooks, and regular table-top exercises.
- Testing and assurance: Periodic penetration tests on high-risk systems, remediation tracking, and cross-organization sharing of findings.
- Governance and accountability: Data mapping and RoPAs, DPIAs for high-risk processing, vendor due diligence and DPAs, documented policies, training, and board-level reporting.
- Breach readiness: Clear thresholds for notifying the ICO and affected individuals, evidence-ready documentation, and pre-arranged communications plans.
Captain Compliance Helps to Prevent Fines and Reduce Risk
Captain Compliance helps organizations operationalize UK GDPR requirements and demonstrate accountability to the ICO. Our platform and services combine automation with expert guidance to close real-world gaps before they become regulatory problems. We recommend to book a demo today and learn more about our privacy software solutions.
- Privacy Program Accelerator: Rapid gap analysis against UK GDPR and sector standards, with a remediation roadmap prioritized by risk and impact.
- Consent & Cookie Compliance: Configurable, region-aware notices and records to honor user choices and support lawful bases and PECR obligations.
- Data Mapping & DPIAs: Live records of processing activities, automated questionnaires, impact assessments, and evidence packs for audits.
- Vendor & DPA Management: Processor due diligence, DPA templates, risk scoring, and continuous monitoring of third-party controls.
- Incident Response Readiness: Playbooks, simulations, breach-logging workflows, and timed SLAs to improve detection and containment.
- Training & Governance: Role-based training, policy lifecycle management, and board-level reporting to prove accountability.
For qualified customers, we stand behind our software and guidance with strong assurances designed to align incentives and help cover the costs associated with privacy incidents while you are using our platform.
Action Checklist for UK Organizations
- Revisit your privileged access and lateral-movement controls; close any gaps immediately.
- Validate SOC coverage and alert-response SLAs; ensure you can quarantine endpoints within minutes, not hours.
- Schedule fresh penetration testing of high-risk systems and track remediation to completion.
- Refresh your incident response plan and run a cross-functional exercise within 30 days.
- Confirm data mapping, DPIAs, and vendor DPAs are up-to-date and evidence-ready.
- Strengthen staff training, with emphasis on phishing, handling special category data, and breach reporting.
Capita Penalty
The Capita penalty underscores a simple reality: when basic controls fail at scale, the ICO will act and the costs go far beyond the fine. With the right combination of technology, process, and governance, organizations can reduce the likelihood and impact of incidents, meet regulatory expectations, and protect the people whose data they hold.
Captain Compliance is ready to help you implement what regulators expect, prove it with audit-ready evidence, and keep your programm resilient as threats evolve. Book a Demo below with one of our privacy experts and get started today!
