Sensitive data of legal aid applicants – including criminal records – downloaded by hackers
Cyber-attackers accessed and downloaded “a significant amount of personal data” — including criminal records, home addresses and financial data — of legal aid applicants in an attack on the Legal Aid Agency, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has confirmed.
In a statement released this morning, the MoJ explained that officials have been aware of the attack since Wednesday 23 April, initially believing that it had affected the financial data of legal aid providers.
On Friday, it was discovered that the attack was “more extensive than originally understood” and that “a large amount of information relating to legal aid applicants” had been compromised.
This data includes the contact details and addresses, dates of birth, national ID numbers, criminal history, employment status and financial data of those who have applied for aid through the Legal Aid Agency’s digital service since 2010.
The Legal Aid Agency is an executive agency of the MoJ, and provides civil and criminal legal aid to those in England and Wales. The agency’s online service — used by legal aid providers to log their work and receive payment from the Government — has now been taken offline.
The MoJ has urged members of the public who have applied for legal aid since 2010 to take precautions such as updating passwords which may have been compromised and being alert to messages and phone calls from unknown sources.
Jane Harbottle, chief executive officer of the Legal Aid Agency, has acknowledged that this news will be “shocking and upsetting” and is “extremely sorry” for the incident.
“My team has been working around the clock with the National Cyber Security Centre to bolster the security of our systems so we can safely continue the vital work of the agency,” she has said.
Although taking the online service down is necessary to “safeguard the service and its users”, Harbottle has said that contingency plans are in place to provide legal support and advice to those most in need.
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