Dacoll

Dacoll is an IT firm headquartered in the United Kingdom that provides technology services to UK police organisations. The company manages confidential data on behalf of law enforcement, including information held in the Police National Computer. One of its subsidiaries delivers critical remote access services to the majority of UK police forces. Through these arrangements Dacoll handles sensitive material such as motorist images from the automatic number plate recognition system, driver footage and close‑up facial images of traffic offenders. The firm’s work involves storing and processing data that is integral to national policing operations. Its client base is limited to public sector entities within the UK justice and security sector.

In October 2021 Dacoll suffered a ransomware attack carried out by the Clop gang, which compromised an internal network that was not connected to client systems. The breach exposed confidential police data, including the aforementioned motorist images, driver footage and facial images. Dacoll publicly confirmed the incident, stated that it refused to meet the ransom demand and chose not to disclose further details of the breach. The incident prompted involvement from national cybersecurity authorities, who assisted law enforcement in investigating the subsequent leak of the stolen information on dark web platforms. These events highlight Dacoll’s role as a handler of highly sensitive government information and its interaction with national cyber‑security response mechanisms.