Legal Aid Agency’s Portal – Data Breach
On Wednesday 23 April 2025, the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) became aware of a cyber-attack on the online digital services, which is the portal on which all legal aid applications are submitted by services who offer legal aid to clients.
The LAA have confirmed they took immediate action to bolster the security of the system, and have worked closely with the National Crime Agency and National Cyber Security Centre as well as informing the Information Commissioner.
On Friday 16 May 2025, the LAA discovered the attack was more extensive than originally understood and that the group behind it had accessed a large amount of information relating to legal aid applicants, which includes personal data of those who have applied for legal aid since 2010. The data may include contact details and addresses of applicants, dates of birth, national ID numbers, criminal history, employment status and financial data such as contribution amounts, debts and payments.
The LAA have today published the above update and have urged all members of the public who have applied for legal aid in this time period to take steps to safeguard themselves. They recommend clients are alert for any suspicious activity such as unknown messages or phone calls and to be extra vigilant to update any potentially exposed passwords. If in doubt, clients should verify their identity independently before providing any information to anyone.
The LAA’s update can be found here: Legal Aid Agency data breach – GOV.UK
Further information on how to protect yourself from the impact of a data breach can be found on the NCSC website.
Charles Strachan take this opportunity to confirm that this is an LAA data breach therefore any queries about personal data being shared or the breach itself should be referred to the LAA (telephone number: 0300 200 2020).
We further confirm that our clients’ personal data remains safe and secure with us.