Hong Kong toy maker VTech braces for possible litigation in US after 6 million children’s accounts leaked in recent hack
Nearly half of hacked accounts in city’s biggest cybersecurity breach in at least five years belonged to kids in America.
“VTech will most likely be subject to a number of class-action lawsuits in the US on behalf of parents who fear the damage they will suffer as a result of the data breach,” Paul Haswell, a partner at technology-focused international law firm Pinsent Masons, told the South China Morning Post.
In an updated post on its website on Wednesday, VTech said there were a total of 4.8 million parent accounts and 6.4 million related children’s profiles affected by the hack of its Learning Lodge app store customer database and Kid Connect servers.
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Also affected were 235,708 accounts belonging to parents and 227,705 children’s accounts at the company’s Planet VTech online games platform.
The company had earlier reported that the profiles of more than 200,000 children were hacked on November 14 from its Learning Lodge website, where children download apps and electronic books.
“Regretfully, our database was not as secure as it should have been,” VTech said.
“Upon discovering the breach, we immediately conducted a comprehensive check and have taken thorough actions against future attacks.”
This massive hack on VTech marks the biggest corporate cybersecurity breach in Hong Kong since 2011. It also ranks as the largest known targeted hack on children’s data worldwide.