A cyberattack targeting the U.K.’s Police National Legal Database (PNLD) has exposed the contact information of more than 100,000 police officers, criminal justice professionals, and government partners, according to an official statement and reports.
The breach was discovered on July 26 after attackers gained unauthorized access to PNLD, an online legal resource used for more than three decades by the 43 Home Office police forces in England and Wales, as well as the British Transport Police. The service also operates the public-facing “Ask the Police” website, which provides answers to common policing and legal questions.
PNLD confirmed that the compromised data includes full names, organization names, and email addresses of police officers, staff, criminal justice professionals, government partners, and users who submitted questions through the Ask the Police platform. The organization emphasized that no evidence has been found indicating passwords or other security credentials were exposed.
The database does not store confidential information related to crime victims, witnesses, or offenders, and PNLD said no such sensitive records were affected by the incident.
Following the discovery, PNLD notified affected organizations, informed the U.K.’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), and launched an investigation with support from cybersecurity specialists and the National Crime Agency (NCA).
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UK Police Legal Database Breached, Contact Details of Over 100,000 Officials Exposed
