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Cyber hackers have stolen the personal
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detail and data of legal aid applicants
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in England and Wales, including criminal
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records. The personal information taken
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includes national insurance numbers,
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employment status, and financial
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information going back as far as 2010.
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That's according to the Ministry of
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Justice. Well, Laura Jones is there for
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us. The scale of this is quite shocking,
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Yes, it'll be really concerning news for
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anybody who's used the legal aid online
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system in the last 15 years. Concerning
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to hear that their data may have been
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accessed. In terms of what we know so
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far, the Ministry of Justice has said
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that it became aware of the hack on the
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23rd of April, but last week it emerged
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that it was worse than it initially
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thought. Some of the data accessed
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includes fairly personal information,
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names, addresses of people who've used
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that online system. Most concerning
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though is that it could include criminal
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history details or even payment details,
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although that won't apply to everybody
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affected. The hackers have claimed that
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some 2.1 million pieces of data have
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been accessed. It's worth saying that
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number has not been verified, but some
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initial estimates suggest that hundreds
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of thousands of people, perhaps even a
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million could have had their data
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exposed in this attack. And one cyber
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security expert told us that what's
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unique about this hack is the fact it's
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In the recent past, you may recall there
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was attacks on the MOD and the NHS. they
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they actually went after third-party
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providers and that sort of um like like
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most industries there's a there's a kind
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of a fashion or a trend and the third
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party provider trend was was kind of one
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that was kind of um on the rise for a
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direct assault on a a government agency
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there have been them in the past but
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this is this is new or new or or
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relatively new um and it's quite
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significant so what should you do if you
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think your data has been um affected.
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So, it's worth saying that the boss of
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the legal aid agency has apologized to
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those affected. They're aware it may be
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very upsetting. In terms of what's best
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in terms of the next few weeks, people
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should be extra vigilant when it comes
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to calls or texts from unknown numbers
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and look at updating their passwords if
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they think they may have been exposed.