VTech hack: 21-year-old man arrested after millions of children's personal data breached

A man has been arrested in connection the alleged hacking of electronic toy manufacturer VTech. The 21-year-old was arrested in Bracknell, Berkshire, on suspicion of unauthorised access to computers to facilitate the commission of an offence and suspicion of causing a computer to perform function to secure/enable unauthorised access to a program/data following the data breach in November.

VTech Holdings Limited confirmed in November that an "unauthorised party" had accessed their customer data, which appeared on their Learning Lodge app store data base.

The database contained general user profile information including name, email address, passwords, IP addresses nd download history. A VTech spokesperson assured customers their credit card details were not breached during the hack as all payments are directed away from Learning Lodge to a third-party payment gateway.

However, the profile details of more than six million children worldwide – including their name, gender and birthdate – were breached during the hack.

Craig Jones, head of the Cyber Crime Unit at the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit (SEROCU), said: "Cyber criminality is affecting more and more business around the world and we continue to work with our partners to thoroughly investigate very complex cases.

"We are still at the early stages of the investigation and there is still much work to be done. We will continue to work closely with our partners to identify those who commit offences and hold them to account. We are pursuing cyber criminals using the latest technology and working with businesses and academia to further develop specialist investigative capabilities to protect and reduce the risk to the public. Cyber crime is an issue that has no boundaries and affects people on a local, regional and global level.

Jones also urged everyone who may have been hit by the hack check their home and business computer security and follow the advice available on sites such as cyberstreetwise.com and getsafeonline.org.