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Security / hacking / UK government / police

Thousands of UK government records leaked by hackers

Contact details held by the Department for Education and a police database were both shared by the ExfilSquad group.

Noah Bovenizer
By  Noah Bovenizer
Updated / Published 2 min read
Thousands of UK government records leaked by hackers
Image credit: https://unsplash.com/@flpschi

Two UK government departments have seen hundreds of thousands of documents published by a hacking group, putting a fresh spotlight on the public sector’s cybersecurity.

The Department for Education (DfE) and the Police National Legal Database (PNLD) both suffered cyberattacks claimed by the group ExfilSquad, with data published to a leak site in the last week.

A site seen by The Stack claimed the group had taken 607,000 records from the DfE’s help portal and a portal for students studying abroad, and 135,000 law enforcement contact records from the PNLD.

While it includes statements giving 13 other victims until 5 August to contact the group about a ransom, the site includes direct links to the files stolen from DfE and PNLD. Current government policy is not to use taxpayer funds for ransomware payments.

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  • Noah Bovenizer

    Noah Bovenizer

    Noah Bovenizer is a senior reporter with The Stack. He previously covered the transportation sector for Global Data. He has a first class degree in journalism and has also worked as a newsreader for Gaydio.

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