More than 100,000 UK police officers and staff have had their personal details leaked on the dark web

More than 100,000 UK police officers and staff have had their personal details leaked on the dark web after hackers breached the Police National Legal Database (PNLD), raising serious security concerns for law enforcement personnel across the country.

The leaked data reportedly includes officers’ full names, work contact details and force locations. Staff from the Ministry of Defence (MoD), Home Office, National Crime Agency (NCA) and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) are also understood to be affected.

The cybercriminal group ExfilSquad has claimed responsibility for the attack, alleging it exploited a misconfigured Microsoft-based system before publishing the stolen data after ransom demands were not met.

One officer told The Times the breach “puts officers at serious risk,” warning that the exposed information could endanger personnel involved in covert operations, organised crime investigations and other sensitive policing roles.

The Police National Legal Database is a legal reference system used by police forces and criminal justice agencies across the UK. It is separate from the Police National Computer (PNC) and Police National Database (PND), and there is currently no indication those systems have been compromised.

The National Crime Agency (NCA), National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) are investigating the incident. PNLD has said there is no evidence that passwords or confidential case files relating to victims, witnesses or offenders were accessed during the breach.

The full scale and impact of the cyberattack remain under investigation.