A cybercrime group calling itself "Radiant" targeted thousands of young children in the United Kingdom, gaining access to their sensitive information, including photos.
Now, the group has released the personal details of 20 young children to the darknet, after it shared a timeline of its "data leakage roadmap." There are 10 kids involved in the latest release, who are all under the age of five.
UK Cyber Attack
The cybercrime group claims that Kido Schools is being "non-compliant" with its demands, which forced them to escalate their rhetoric and threats. In its leak post, Radiant said that they have sensitive data of more than 8,000 children and their relatives, grandparents, aunties, uncles, and parents.
It noted that the sample it shared did not include any accident reports, safeguarding reports, billing, or anything in bulk just yet. Radiant said that it was giving officials a chance to comply with its demands, according to Cyber Daily.
After the initial release, the cybercrime group released information on 10 more children, as well as a sample list of Kido Schools employee details. These include full names, dates of birth, national insurance numbers, and home addresses.
Read more: UK Teenagers Arrested for Involvement in Years-long 'Scattered Spider' Cybergroup Hacking Spree
Similar to other criminals, the group said that it was owed "compensation for our pentest." Following the releases, there was intense media scrutiny of the hackers' actions, forcing it to at least blur the images of the kids that had so far been shared.
The former head of the National Cyber Security Center, Ciaran Martin, described the cybercrime group's actions as "absolutely horrible." However, he urged the public to be calm, noting that the hackers are trying to "stoke up fear," BBC reported.
Sensitive Information of Thousands of Children
Kido Schools told parents that the security breach occurred when criminals accessed their data that was hosted by a software service called Famly. It is a popular software that is used by other nurseries and childcare organizations.
On its website, Famly said that it was being used by more than 1 million "owners, managers, practitioners, and families. The company's head, Anders Laustsen, said that Radiant's malicious attack represents a "truly barbaric new low."
A spokesperson from London's Metropolitan Police said that law enforcement authorities received a referral on Thursday. This came after reports of a ransomware attack on a London-based organization.
Currently, enquiries are ongoing and are in the initial stages within the police force's Cyber Crime Unit. So far, there have been no arrests made in connection with the cybercrime incident, as per CNN.
