British law enforcement agencies are investigating a major cyberattack that resulted in the leak of confidential information belonging to the country’s security and intelligence personnel. The attack targeted the Police National Legal Database (PNLD)—a specialized online resource used by UK law enforcement agencies and government departments.
The names and contact details of approximately 100,000 individuals fell into the hands of the perpetrators. Those affected include staff from the police, the Ministry of Defence (MoD), the Home Office, the National Crime Agency (NCA), and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
According to UK security services, the cybercriminal group ExfilSquad is responsible for the attack. This is not the first high-profile breach associated with ExfilSquad; shortly before targeting the PNLD database, the same hacker group published a dataset on the dark web containing over 600,000 records from the UK Department for Education (DfE).
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and relevant authorities are conducting an emergency investigation. Officers and employees whose details were exposed have been instructed to heighten their digital security measures due to an increased risk of phishing attacks and targeted extortion.