Hacker Group ExfilSquad Breaches UK Education Ministry and Police Databases
The UK Department for Education and police authorities have suffered a data breach. Hacker group ExfilSquad claims to have stolen hundreds of thousands of records.
Hacker group ExfilSquad has announced a breach into databases belonging to the UK Department for Education and UK police. The group claims to have stolen over 740,000 records in total, including personal information.
The Department for Education has confirmed the security incident to the BBC and stated it is cooperating with the UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and the National Crime Agency (NCA) to investigate. The department indicated the attack targeted two of its portal websites related to student opportunities abroad. The stolen data reportedly includes contact information such as names, email addresses, and phone numbers, affecting individuals including parents, government officials, and school administrators.
ExfilSquad also claims to have stolen approximately 135,000 records from the Police National Legal Database (PNLD), managed by West Yorkshire Police. The leaked data is said to include names of police officers, their email addresses, and police jurisdictions, as well as information on some members of the public who accessed the database. Authorities assure that no sensitive law enforcement information, such as victim or suspect details, has been compromised.
Security firm Sophos has conducted an initial verification of data samples released by ExfilSquad and believes the information to be genuine. The method by which the hackers gained access to the systems remains unknown at this time. The incident highlights ongoing cybersecurity risks to public institutions.