Cybercriminals have reportedly stolen a large volume of sensitive internal documents from the Los Angeles Police Department and leaked the data online.
The stolen data included police personnel records, internal affairs investigations and discovery documents that may include unredacted criminal complaints and personal information such as names of witnesses and medical records, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Emma Best, the founder of the transparency group Distributed Denial of Secrets, which hosts the data, said in an online posting that the World Leaks extortionist gang is behind the data breach.
Best said she was able to verify some of the leaked data when it was posted – and then deleted – on the gang’s leak site, where the group publicizes its breaches in an attempt to pressure its victims into paying ransoms.
It is unclear why the data is no longer listed on the World Leaks website.
In a public statementthe LAPD said it is investigating the breach, which it said did not involve LAPD systems or networks, but rather affected “a digital storage system” owned by the Los Angeles City Attorney’s office.
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The LAPD said it is “working with the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office to access the affected records to understand the full scope of the data breach.”
According to the Los Angeles Times, most police records are considered private under California state law. The newspaper said the leak, if proven authentic, would represent a “stunning breach of police data”, as police records are rarely disclosed or published.
The breach reportedly exposed 7.7 terabytes of data and more than 337,000 files.
Ivor Pine, a spokesman for the LA City Attorney’s Office, told TechCrunch that the office became aware of “unauthorized access to a third-party tool,” without naming it. “The information was self-contained in this application without links to or access to department files or systems,” Pine said in an email.
An LAPD spokesman declined to comment, referring to the department’s public statement at X.
The hackers could not be reached for comment.
World Leaks began operations in January 2025 as an apparent rebrand of a previous group known as Hunters International. Since then, the group has compromised organizations in a variety of industries, including healthcare, manufacturing, technology and more.
According to cybersecurity firm Halcyonhackers have “demonstrated prowess against defense contractors and Fortune 500 organizations.”
He was briefed in the included responses from the LAPD and the LA City Attorney’s office.
