The Legal Aid Agency has said its systems could be back online in September with a brand new system currently being built to replace the compromised system hacked into by criminals in April of this year.
In May the Legal Aid Agency said it had been the victim of a cyber attack, but did not reveal the full extent of the breach until some weeks later. As many as 2.1m people’s records were accessed by the group responsible with personal details including contact details, addresses, national insurance number, employment status and financial data accessed for people who had applied for legal aid in the last 15 years. The systems have been offline since.
But The Law Society Gazette reports a new portal is currently under construction and will go live in September after Legal Aid providers were updated this week. The portal will be called ‘Signing into Legal Aid Services’ (SILAS).
The Gazette reports providers will need to submit a spreadsheet by the end of August with details of everyone in the firm who will need access to the system. This has already caused issues for firms who need to provide information about third parties including costs draftspeople who work with multiple firms
In July a new statutory instrument was through Parliament to introduce ‘secondary legislation to make temporary operational changes’ said Justice Minister Sarah Sackman MP in a written statement to Parliament.
The cyber attack has left many legal aid firms ‘on a knife edge’ said Beverley Watkins, Managing Partner of Bristol-based Watkins Solicitors, and a member of the Legal Aid Practitioner Group (LAPG) Board and Advisory Committee. Speaking to BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio Bristol Watkins explained the attack has had a ‘devastating effect’ on firms, and in particular on cash flow against a backdrop of ‘decades of underinvestment in legal aid.’
