The UK’s Legal Aid Agency announced on Monday that it was recently hit by a cyberattack, leading to a data breach involving sensitive personal information.
The Legal Aid Agency (LAA), part of the UK’s Ministry of Justice, offers criminal and civil legal aid and advice to individuals in England and Wales.
Both the LAA and the Ministry of Justice stated that they became aware of the cyberattack on April 23.
An investigation, supported by the National Crime Agency and the National Cyber Security Centre, concluded on May 16 that the breach was more extensive than initially believed. It found that the attackers accessed a large volume of information related to legal aid applicants.
According to the findings, the hackers stole a significant amount of personal data from individuals who applied for legal aid online since 2010.
The exposed data includes applicants’ contact information, home addresses, birthdates, national identification numbers, criminal records, employment details, and financial data such as payment amounts, contributions, and debts.
Several UK news outlets reported that unidentified hackers claimed to have stolen 2.1 million records. However, this figure has not been officially verified by the government.
Jane Harbottle, CEO of the Legal Aid Agency, stated that steps are being taken to improve system security. She mentioned that “radical action” is underway, which led to the decision to take the affected online service offline.
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