The kid profiles that were exposed included the names, genders, and birthdates of the child users.
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Digital toymaker VTech Holdings Ltd said on Tuesday that data on about 6.4 million children was exposed in a hack of information on customers in more than a dozen countries.
The company initially revealed the breach on Friday, but declined to disclose how many children’s profiles were affected.
Customers who used the company’s Learning Lodge app store and Kid Connect service were affected.
The alleged mastermind behind the fourth largest consumer data breach told Motherboard that the hack exposed other sensitive information, including children’s photos and chat logs between kids and parents. Parent account information includes name, email address, password details, mailing address and Internet protocol address. “Clearly manufacturers should be taking greater care over data security and privacy, but parents should also be more careful with their children’s personal information”, he explained in an email to FoxNews.com. VTech customers also use Learning Lodge to register accounts, both for themselves and their children.
The company did not immediately respond to PCMag’s request for comment.
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The affected database doesn’t contain any credit card numbers, or personally identification information such as Social Security or driver’s license numbers, VTech says. The anonymous hacker told the publication that she has no intention of publishing or selling the stolen data. It is expected VTech will be subjected to government scrutiny in relation to its security practices due to the scope of the breach. ToyTalk, which worked with Mattel to create “Hello Barbie”, downplayed the claim in a Tumblr post Thursday.
