Hackers Target Child Care Institutions In London, Break Data 8,000 Children

JAKARTA The hacker group stole data on more than 8,000 children registered in a number of child care sites belonging to the Kido International care service provider in London. This announcement was made via the group's dark web portal this week.

The group calling themselves "Radiants" includes proof of their claims by publishing names, photos, home addresses, and family contact information from 10 children who are claimed to be students in one of the 18 integrity Kidos in the Greater London area.

The hack raised serious concerns over child protection and data privacy, becoming one of a series of major ransomware incidents that have hit British businesses so far this year.

In a statement on their data leak site, Radiant said: "The next step is to release 30 additional child profiles and 100 employee profiles."

Kido International did not respond to requests for comment from the media. Meanwhile, the London Metropolitan Police stated that no arrests had been made. "The investigation is still in its early stages and is being handled by the Police Cyber Crime Unit," the authorities said.

In a conversation via an encrypted messaging service, hackers claimed to have been on Kido's internal network for several weeks. When asked about their location, hackers claimed to be based in Russia, but gave no evidence of the claim.

They also sent a message to authorities and International Kido stating:

Kido Schools

Our General Image integrates progress in design, technology, and pedagogy to create the highest quality child care and preschool around the world. Our place of storage is a magical place where children play, learn, grow and develop. By combining classical philosophy such as Montessori and Reggio Emilia with cutting-edge research, we created the most advanced early childhood education program anywhere. Since 2014, more than 15,000 families around the world have entrusted their children to Kido.

Kido's carelessness Although we have given discounts and have not leaked their names to solve the problem, the Kido Schools remain non-compliant to us. We currently have sensitive data of more than 1000+ children (they know the exact number), along with their parents and relatives, all employees, and company data. As a result, on our leak site only 5 "profiles" are displayed from each child and their family with a lot of sensitive information. They know exactly how to contact us, but they are an embarrassing company for failing to care about their own customer data.

They also know we have more even sensitive information about each child, which we will not disclose for now. And lastly, they are aware that this will completely destroy their company as we leak the data slowly, and we urge them to continue the dialogue with us.

Ransomware is an evil software used to encrypt company data and ask for a ransom to reopen the access. Radiant declined to disclose how much ransom they asked for from Kido International.

"Cyber crime actors will target anyone if they see an opportunity of profit. Attacking an institution that takes care of children is a very despicable act," said Jonathon Ellison of the National Cyber Security Center, part of the British Intelligence Service GCHQ, quoted by VOI from Reuters.

A British government source also stated that the government was considering financial assistance for Jaguar Land Rover suppliers, who were affected by the shutdown due to cyber attacks that lasted until October.

The day before, police also arrested a man in connection with an investigation into a ransomware attack against defense company Collins Aerospace, which is owned by RTX. The attack paralyzed the automatic check-in system at Heathrow Airport, Britain's busiest airport, and caused chaos at several other European airports.

In April, the hacker group "Scattered Spider" was also reported to be behind a cyberattack that crippled Marks & Spencer, one of the UK's leading retailers. The company expects the attack to cost around 300 million pounds (approximately IDR 6 trillion) in its 2025/26 fiscal year operating profit.