Legal Aid Agency
Disclosed Nov 20, 200718 years ago25,000,000 affectedUnverified
Two lost discs held child benefit data of 25 million UK residents
Junior HMRC staff sent two password protected discs holding the full child benefit database to the National Audit Office by unrecorded courier in October 2007, and they never arrived. Chancellor Alistair Darling told Parliament on November 20 that data on 25 million individuals and 7.25 million families was lost.
What is known
| People affected | 25,000,000 (as reported by the organization) |
|---|---|
| Disclosed | Nov 20, 2007 |
| Discovered | Nov 8, 2007 |
| Attack | Lost or stolen device |
| Data exposed | Names, Addresses, Dates of birth, Government IDs, Financial, Children's data |
| Sector | Government · GB |
| Status | Unverified: not yet confirmed by an official notice, a filing or the organization |
Sources
| Source | |
|---|---|
| United Kingdom child benefit data breach - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org · News | News |
| UK's families put on fraud alert - BBC Newsnews.bbc.co.uk · News | News |
Notices filed
| Where | Filed | People |
|---|---|---|
| Researchtotal | Nov 20, 2007 | 25,000,000 |
Other breaches at Legal Aid Agency
| Breach | Affected | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hackers download legal aid applicant data dating back to 2010May 19, 20251 year agoHacking | May 19, 20251 year ago | Hacking | Government | Confirmed | Unknown |
| Armed forces payroll system breach exposes 272,000 personnel and veteransMay 7, 20242 years agoVendor breachUnverified | May 7, 20242 years ago | Vendor breach | Government | Unverified | 272K |
| Emails sent without BCC exposed 265 recipients' addresses; ICO fine of GBP 350,000Feb 26, 20242 years agoInsider | Feb 26, 20242 years ago | Insider | Government | Settled | 265 |
History of this record
- 2026-09-25 · added · seed source
First seen 2026-09-25 (Research). Record counts are as reported. Not legal advice.