The Ministry of Justice has confirmed that a new legal aid portal to replace the system attacked by hackers will go live in September. However, the new portal may not mark the end of the disruption endured by practitioners since May, when the old system was taken offline. In a further development, the MoJ today revealed that more personal data may have been accessed during April's cyber-attack than the department realised.
As the Gazette revealed yesterday, legal aid providers were informed that a new portal will be coming in two months' time.
The Ministry of Justice has now confirmed that the new ‘identity access management solution’ will be called Sign into Legal Aid Services. Going live in September, it will give practitioners secure access to digital services ‘as they become available’.
The ministry said it is working to restore core systems and services, including the benefits checker, as a matter of priority. No additional systems to those already supporting contingency measures will return before September. Services will return ‘in phases’.
Pressed again on whether services will be immediately available when the system goes live, the ministry said providers will have access to services ‘as they become available’.
Meanwhile, the MoJ today revealed that even more personal data may have been accessed during the cyber-attack than the department realised.
The MoJ originally said applicants' personal data since 2010 may have been accessed. Today, the department said further investigations showed some data going back to 2007 may have been accessed as well as information linked to applicants' partners.
A spokesperson for the MoJ told the Gazette: 'We take data protection extremely seriously - which is why we’ve continued to update those affected as new information comes to light. A new digital sign on system will come online in September and we are working hard to restore all our digital services as soon as possible.'
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