Childrens names pictures and addresses stolen in nursery hack BBC News

pHackers say they have stolen the pictures names and addresses of around 8000 children from the Kido nursery chainppThe gang of cyber criminals is using the highly sensitive information to demand a ransom from the company which has 18 sites in and around London with more in the US and IndiappThe criminals say they also have information about the childrens parents and carers as well as safeguarding notesppThey claim to have contacted some parents by phone as part of their extortion tacticsppThe BBC has contacted Kido for comment but has not had a responseppThe company has not released any public statements about the hack but parents and nurseries have been notifiedppCybersecurity firm Check Point described the targeting of nurseries as an absolute new lowppOne of its experts Graeme Stewart said To deliberately put children and schools in the firing line is indefensible Frankly it is appallingppJonathon Ellison from the National Cyber Security Centre described the hack as deeply distressingppCyber criminals will target anyone if they think there is money to be made and going after those who look after children is a particularly egregious act he saidppAn employee said the nursery was asking parents not to speak to the media though some have spoken to the BBCppIts not ideal of course we would rather they had been using some sort of encryption software said one parent who asked to be referred to as MaryppThe nursery told us very quicklyppMary said her family had received an email from the hackers who told them what information had been taken ppIt was all very professional and wellwritten no spelling mistakes or anything like that she saidppMy partner actually works in cybersecurity and we understand these things happen ppBut we do feel the nursery has handled it wellppAnd Bryony Wilde who has one child at a Kido nursery in London told the BBC the children whose data was taken were completely innocent victims ppThey are kids their personal details shouldnt be worth anything she saidppYou are probably prepared to go a little bit further to protect childrens privacy and personal detailsppThe hacking group responsible for the claims appears to be relatively new and calls itself RadiantppThe cyber criminals contacted the BBC about the hack and have subsequently posted details of it to their darknet websiteppIt has published a sample of data there including pictures and profiles of 10 children from the stolen data setppIt has been published as part of their attempt to extort money from the nursery chain which has its 18 nurseries mostly in the London areappPolice advise not to pay ransoms as it further fuels the cybercrime ecosystemppKido has nurseries in and around London ppWhen asked by BBC News if they felt bad about extorting a nursery using the childrens data the criminals said they werent asking for an enormous amount and they deserve some compensation for our pentestppA pentest or penetration test is the term for when ethical hackers are hired to assess the security of an organisation in a controlled and professional way ppThese hackers however attacked the nursery chain without their permissionppOf course its about money they admitted to the BBCppThe hack is the latest in a series of highprofile cyberattacks which has seen production grind to a halt at Jaguar Land Rover and caused massive disruption to MS and the Coop ppRebecca Moody head of data research at software firm Comparitech said the nature of the data posted online raised alarm bellsppWeve seen some low claims from ransomware gangs before but this feels like an entirely different level she saidppShe said the firm should contact anyone affected by the data breach as a matter of urgencyppThe Metropolitan Police told the BBC it had received a referral on 25 September following reports of a ransomware attack on a Londonbased organisationppEnquiries are ongoing and remain in the early stages within the Mets Cyber Crime Unit it saidppA spokesperson from the Information Commissioners Office said Kido International has reported an incident to us and we are assessing the information providedppAdditional reporting by Graham Fraser Technology reporter and Kate Moore News reporterppDoes your child go to a Kido nurseryppGovernment could buy car parts to protect Jaguar Land Rover suppliersppMan arrested in connection with cyberattack on airportsppSign up for our Tech Decoded newsletter to follow the worlds top tech stories and trends Outside the UK Sign up hereppFreed hostages reuniting with families as Trump to address Israels parliamentppCarmakers go on trial over emissions cheat claims ppBlowing whistle on racism killed my career BurrellppYour nose gets colder when youre stressed These thermal images show the changeppHes giving us a lot of joy Rashfords revival at BarcelonappWe must catch up soon How to stop ghosting your friends ppIn an instant they were gone Small town mourns after Tennessee explosives factory blastppHow will the EUs new 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