ExfilSquad Leaks UK Police Legal Database Data and Expands Torrent-Based Extortion

The extortion group ExfilSquad claimed responsibility for breaching the U.K. Police National Legal Database (PNLD), a system managed by West Yorkshire Police, and publishing stolen data on the dark web. PNLD said the incident exposed names, organizations, and work email addresses of police officers, staff, criminal justice professionals, government partners, customers, and some users of the Ask the Police service. The group said it stole 1.9GB of data covering roughly 135,000 records, while PNLD said it had found no evidence that passwords or other security credentials were compromised and that the database does not hold confidential information on victims, witnesses, or offenders. Authorities said specialist cybersecurity organizations and the UK National Crime Agency were involved in the investigation and response.

The breach has become a high-profile example of ExfilSquad’s broader hack-and-leak campaign, which targets exposed or misconfigured cloud and SaaS platforms including Microsoft Dataverse, Power Pages, case management systems, and CRM environments. Researchers said the group recently named 13 additional victims across the United States, United Kingdom, and Sweden, and has shifted to torrent-based distribution of stolen data, using unique trackers and web seeds to make takedowns harder and accelerate spread through P2P networks. Reporting also linked active sharing nodes in China and Russia to the leaked PNLD data, underscoring the heightened risk of spear-phishing and social engineering against affected police and justice personnel.