London’s Metropolitan police department confirmed that its systems were compromised in a hacking event.
The hackers behind the London Metropolitan Police cyber attack have not been found yet. It is suspected that stolen data was likely accessed by the Irish Republican Army with whom the department built a peace accord 25 years ago.
The department addressed the Metropolitan police cyber attack
On 26 August 2023, the department confirmed that they found unauthorized access found to its IT systems. This was due to one of its suppliers, which the department did not name in its statements, was targeted by hackers.
“We are working with the company to understand if there has been any security breach relating to Metropolitan Police data,” the official statement about the Met supplier incident read.
The targeted company that offered services to the Metropolitan Police Department had access to the personal details of the staff. It included names, photos, ranks, payroll numbers, and vetting levels of officers of the police department.
The company reportedly printed identity cards and staff passes for the United Kingdom’s Met which is among its biggest police forces.
Further investigation into the Metropolitan police data hacking
Addressing the London Metropolitan police cyber attack, the department said that it was working with the supplier to find the extent of damage from the security incidents. It is not clear how many systems have been impacted or the amount of data exposed to threat actors.
The department had taken the Metropolitan hacking incident to the National Crime Agency for investigation. Additional security measures were taken keeping the seriousness of the Metropolitan cyber attack in view.
The Metropolitan security incident caused incredible concern and anger among the staff of the Metropolitan Police Federation, a Daily Excelsior report read.
Reacting to the police department cyber attack, the Federation Vice Chair Rick Prior said, “This is a staggering security breach that should never have happened,” the report stated.
Expressing concern over the grave nature of the London police cyber attack, Rick added, “Given the roles we ask our colleagues to undertake, significant safeguards and checks and balances should have been in place to protect this valuable personal information which if in the wrong hands, could do incalculable damage.”
The information is suspected to have reached the Irish Republican Army dissidents who have been targeting the police for over 25 years despite Northern Ireland’s peace accord.
PSNI data breach
Recently, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) accidentally released police data while answering a routine Freedom of Information request.
The shared information stayed exposed online for three hours. Following this, the officers and staff had to be given fresh updates on maintaining data security.
This incident exposed the personal information of over 10,000 officers and staff. Surnames, initials, ranks, location details, and unit details including surveillance and intelligence data were released.
The next day, the department learned of a second security incident involving a spreadsheet with the names of 200 officers and staff.
The PSNI has arrested two individuals aged 50 and 39 years following the data theft incident. The 50-year-old man was arrested after a search in Dungiven county for the Terrorism Act. The other arrested man was released on bail.
In another incident of a data breach, a man was arrested with a police-issued laptop, radio, and documents on July 6, 2023. This document contained details of over 200 staff which was stolen from a private vehicle in Newtownabbey, County Antrim, according to a BBC report.
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