Police National Legal Database confirms data theft after dark web leak
ExfilSquad claims 135,000 contact records weeks after hitting the Department for Education
The Police National Legal Database (PNLD), a legal lookup service used by UK police forces and criminal justice agencies, has confirmed that its data was stolen and leaked onto the dark web. The incident, discovered on July 26, involved the exposure of names, organizations, and work email addresses of police officers, staff, and customers, as well as users of the Ask the Police public-facing legal advice website.
PNLD has yet to disclose the details of how the breach occurred, the number of people affected, or whether any authentication data was compromised. The breach is believed to be linked to the cyber-extortion group ExfilSquad, which has claimed responsibility for similar breaches at the Department for Education (DfE). ExfilSquad has posted claims of stolen data from both PNLD and DfE on its leak site, including large datasets containing millions of records and password hashes.
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