Legal Aid Agency breach: stolen records date back to 1978
The UK's Legal Aid Agency (LAA) has confirmed that the data stolen in last year's cyberattack reaches much further back than first reported. Some of the records date from 1978.
The LAA is an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice and manages the country's Public Defender Service. It funds legal help for people who cannot afford a lawyer. Attackers breached its IT systems in April 2025, and the agency is still working out the full extent of what was taken.
A breach that kept getting bigger
The agency has around 1,250 staff and oversees billions in legal funding. It works with about 2,000 providers, including barristers, solicitor firms and non-profit organizations that deliver civil and criminal legal aid in England and Wales.