Hackers Steal Data Of 8,000 Children In London Nursery Cyberattack

A group of cybercriminals has stolen highly sensitive data from Kido International, a nursery chain with 18 sites in London, exposing information on more than 8,000 children and their families.

The hackers, who call themselves Radiant, published a sample of 10 children’s profiles on their dark web site, including names, photos, addresses, and family details.

They claim to also hold safeguarding reports, billing information, and accident records. “Next steps for us will be to release 30 more profiles of each child and 100 employees’ private data,” the group threatened online, as reported by The Guardian.

Radiant has demanded payment and even contacted some parents directly by phone and email, warning them their child’s data could be posted unless pressure was put on Kido to pay, reported The Guardian.

One parent told the BBC: “The nursery told us very quickly […] My partner actually works in cyber-security and we understand these things happen. But we do feel the nursery has handled it well.”  Another, Bryony Wilde, said: “They are kids – their personal details shouldn’t be worth anything.”

The BBC reports that group described itself as conducting a “pentest,” a penetration test normally done with permission, but admitted that “of course” it’s about money

Speaking to Reuters, they also claimed to be based in Russia but provided no evidence.

The cyber security experts strongly criticized the attack. Jonathon Ellison of the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre said it was “a particularly egregious act,” as reported by the BBC.

Kido confirmed it had informed families and authorities, and is working with forensic specialists. Reuters reports that the Metropolitan Police said: “Enquiries are ongoing and remain in the early stages within the Met’s Cyber Crime Unit.”