Teen hackers arrested following preschool ransomware attack

Two teenagers suspected of being involved in a series of hackings affecting preschools in London have been taken into custody.

The London Metropolitan Police have been investigating a string of cyberattacks affecting preschools in the area.

Authorities conducted an operation at several residences in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, England, where two people were arrested.

The two men, aged 17, were arrested on suspicion of computer misuse and blackmail, according to the Metropolitan Police.

While the police didn’t specifically name the schools affected, the arrests come after one preschool, Kido Schools, was hit by a ransomware attack.

Attackers leaked the sensitive information of 8,000 preschoolers, including pictures of the children and their personal details.

A new ransomware group calling itself “Radiant” took responsibility for the ransomware attack on Kido Schools.

“We currently possess sensitive data on over 8000+ children + their relatives, grandparents, aunties, uncles, parents. (Everyone!) + all employees and company data,” the group said on its blog.

Despite Kido Schools boasting a network of three dozen locations worldwide, serving more than 15,000 families, including in the US, India, and China, the hackers seemed to specifically target schools in the UK.

The ransomware group started posting sample profiles of the alleged victims of the cyberattack after negotiations between Kido Schools and the ransomware gang broke down.

The gang demanded roughly $134,000 in bitcoin from Kido Schools.

At the time of writing, the gang posted the profiles of 20 children. Each profile contained a close-up image of the child’s face, full name, gender, and date of birth.

Naturally, the ransomware attack sparked public outrage, and hackers were quick to retract the data from their leak site.

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