Legal Aid ACT pleads with demanding hackers in bid to protect Canberra's 'most vulnerable'

Criminals managed to infiltrate the commission's systems and copy personal information about some of its clients last week, prompting it to engage a specialist cyber security firm.

In a statement on Friday afternoon, Legal Aid ACT chief executive John Boersig confirmed the commission was in contact with "the group responsible for this cyber incident".

"They have provided evidence that includes data samples," Mr Boersig said.

"We have verified that they do hold copies of some of our data. This data includes private and confidential information about our clients.

"This group have made some demands, but we cannot comment further as this is now a criminal investigation."

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Mr Boersig said Legal Aid, which was working closely with police, "must carefully balance this sensitive investigation with being transparent with our community".

"We can say that we are appealing to this group to not release this information about our clients, some of whom are the most vulnerable people in Canberra," he said.

Mr Boersig added that work would continue this weekend to identify clients whose data might be at risk of exposure.

"We continue to reach out to people as we identify their level of risk," he said.

"We are heartened by the responses of those we have contacted so far as we work together to keep them safe.

"We have not slowed down the pace of this investigation since it started.

"I would like to thank the many people who are working tirelessly in response to this event and continuing to deliver services to the community at the same time."

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