Science & Tech · Cybersecurity · 2 hrs ago
UK legal aid data breach included records dating back to 1978
The UK Ministry of Justice says hackers who broke into the Legal Aid Agency in April 2025 stole records dating back to 1978.
Officials have now identified about 250,000 records from before 2007, mostly from the 1990s and 2000s.
The files may include personal, financial and legal details, but the number of records is not a confirmed count of affected people.
The breach also exposed some probation service information from 2010 to 2017, including details about people supervised by probation; the government says none of it concerns crime victims.
The newly confirmed reach makes the breach more extensive than officials first believed, when they said the stolen legal aid data dated from 2007 onward.
The government says it has no evidence the stolen data was published.
It says it has strengthened security controls and is investing in modernising digital services, while further work to understand the breach continues.
The UK Legal Aid Agency says hackers stole around 250,000 records dating from before 2007, including one record from 1978.
Most of the older records date from the 1990s and 2000s, and the agency says their presence does not mean everyone who applied for legal aid before 2007 was affected.
The Ministry of Justice also found that the attackers accessed a relatively small number of probation service records from 2010 to 2017.
The attack was detected in April 2025, and the government says it has no evidence that the stolen personal data has been published.
The Ministry of Justice says it is strengthening security and investing more than £200 million to modernise digital services.
- Who
- Hackers breached the UK Legal Aid Agency's systems. The stolen data also included records from HM Prison and Probation Service.
- What
- The attackers stole legal aid records dating back to 1978 and accessed some probation records.
- When
- The attack was detected on April 23, 2025. The agency confirmed the older records in an update reported on October 15, 2026.
- Where
- The Legal Aid Agency is part of the UK's Ministry of Justice. Its legal aid services cover England and Wales.
- Why
- Not stated.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
The Legal Aid Agency first detected the intrusion.
The agency disclosed the cyberattack and warned that legal aid provider payment information might have been compromised.
Officials established the scale of the compromise, and the agency said the breach was more serious than first believed.
The agency returned its online services, but legal aid providers faced delays and ongoing technical problems.
The agency confirmed that around 250,000 stolen records predate 2007, with the earliest verified record dating from 1978.
- Older legal aid records
- Around 250,000 records predate 2007
- Earliest verified record
- 1978
- Probation records
- Information from 2010 to 2017
- Data disclosed as affected
- More than 99 percent of the probation data concerns people under supervision in 2016 and 2017
- Modernisation investment
- More than £200 million for digital services, resilience and cybersecurity across legal aid services
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What people are saying
The earliest record currently verified dates from 1978.
Because of our increased capability to identify data, we have developed a more complete understanding of the information compromised.
There is currently no evidence that any personal data believed to have been exfiltrated has been published.