UK Police Arrest VTech Toymaker Hacker
image: vtech
Personal data of millions of children and adults may have been compromised after a creepy hack of the toymaker VTech servers happened last month.
While the extent of the damage is not yet known, police in the U.K. have arrested a suspect on suspicion of crimes not related to the illegal access to a computer. The company, which is based in Hong Kong, said more than six million minors with a total of over 11 million people’s information being breached.
U.K. officials said the investigation is still early and that there is a still a lot of work that needs to be done.
The hack concerns parents and consumers because it was aimed at getting information from kids’ messaging and learning toys, exposing data like chat logs and photos. VTech CEO said it would keep all websites offline until the company could understand how the breach could have happened.
Motherboard, a technology news website, had originally reported about the hack, which it claimed to have heard firsthand from the hacker. According to them, the hacker said it wasn’t maliciously done and the information would not be released. However, skeptics have warned against trusting him and said the stolen information could warrant a bunch of money in the underground markets. Police still don’t know what the hacker’s motives were.
VTech is currently working with FireEye, a U.S. cyber security firm to learn more about the hacking incident. U.S. consumers have also filed a class action lawsuit against the company, claiming it violated privacy rights with its various products like ABC Learning Classroom toys, PlanetVTech, Learning Lodge, Kid Connect, the Tote & Go Laptop, InnoTab 3, InnoTab 3S and InnoTab 3S Plus.
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