On April 8, The Record reported:
The Los Angeles Police Department on Tuesday announced that hackers gained access to a Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office digital storage system containing sensitive police documents.
The LAPD described the documents as materials that had been turned over in discovery from previously resolved or settled LAPD civil litigation cases.
The hack did not breach any LAPD systems or networks, according to an LAPD press release.
[…]
A statement from a spokesperson for the LA City Attorney’s Office said it became aware of the breach on March 20. The statement said the hackers accessed a “third-party tool used by the City Attorney’s Office to transfer discovery to opposing counsel and litigants.”
Read more at The Record.
In a matter of days, political fallout was, well… falling out, especially for Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein-Soto, after it was revealed that the breach occurred because of a vulnerable tool used by her office.
The Los Angeles Police Protective League, which represents most LAPD officers below the rank of captain, had previously endorsed her. But union officials sent a letter to her withdrawing their support, allegedly because she was “repeatedly not forthcoming” about “the devastating data breach of sensitive LAPD files” from her office. The LA Times has more on that. Politics aside, this incident reportedly involves 7.7 TB of of sensitive personal and professional information on members of law enforcement, and at least some of the data has already reportedly leaked online.
