The fallout from a data breach at the Legal Aid Agency continues as it emerged today that a key portal for solicitors to submit and update applications will remain offline for longer than expected.
The Ministry of Justice said it is working with the National Crime Agency and National Cyber Security Centre to investigate the data breach.
Firms were informed by the LAA about the security incident last week and have now been told in a second letter that the LAA Online Portal, which was taken offline as part of work to protect information, will remain offline until Monday morning. The portal provides access to the LAA's core applications.
The letter, signed by Lucy Jones, head of LAA Corporate Services, was posted by the account CrimeLineLaw on social media platform X. The letter states: ‘We wrote to you last Wednesday following the identification of a security breach of the LAA systems. This remains a live investigation and a number of actions have been and continue to be taken to bolster the security of our systems, and in doing so protect the information contained within them.’
The LAA Online Portal was taken offline ‘to enable further work to be undertaken’, Jones said. It was due to return online this week but will now remain offline until 10am on Monday ‘to allow time for a broader range of actions’.
Jones said: ‘As the portal is currently unavailable, we are aware that you are currently unable to gain a date stamp for your applications. When the portal becomes available, please complete the application as normal and indicate in the “Further Information” section of your application you were unable to submit your application and the date that you would have submitted it. Caseworkers will backdate representation orders to this date where applicable.’
Those with civil applications and an imminent hearing, who are unable to use delegated functions, are told to contact customer services.
Jones said: ‘I would like to again apologise for the inconvenience that the current situation, including the portal unavailability, will be causing you. The LAA takes any breach extremely seriously and understands the potential impacts on our providers including the impacts of taking our systems offline.’
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: 'We take any data breach extremely seriously and have taken the Legal Aid Agency portal temporarily offline while we continue our investigations. We continue to work with the National Crime Agency and National Cyber Security Centre and it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage.'
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