How did thousands of sensitive LAPD files get leaked? City officials seek explanation

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In the aftermath of a recent data breach that saw hackers make off with a vast trove of confidential police records, L.A.leaders have sought an explanation from the city’s top lawyer, whose office was targeted.What they have gotten so far, according to Councilmember Ysabel Jurado, are answers that only leave more questions.In an interview, Jurado said she had expected City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto to appear before the Government Operations committee this week, but instead had received an internal report offering a “high level view” of the breach that left many key details unaddressed.“When did the city attorney’s office become aware, what actions were taken, and why were city officials not notified promptly?” Jurado said.

“Right now, we’re still left to question and trying to assemble the information.”The Times reported the existence of the hack last week, prompting further scrutiny by public officials — some of whom, like Jurado, said they hadn’t previously been informed.Since then, the paper has reviewed an inventory of 337,000 files that were compromised.

The documents amount to millions of pages, and appear to mostly come from civil lawsuits against the city that have been resolved in court.They range in nature from trip-and-fall cases to police excessive force.During a brief discussion at the Council committee Tuesday morning, Jurado said she had received information that an internal link used by the City Attorney’s office to access the files had been clicked at least 5,000 times on the first day of the breach, which is thought to have occurred sometime in March.The files were not secured by a password, according to sources who spoke previously with The Times and requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation.

A senior police official last week assured the department’s civilian bosses, the Police Com...