Police Arrest 21-Year-Old Man Tied To VTech Toy Hack

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Barely old enough to drink and facing prison time for stealing data of 6.4M kids. This guy will be popular in prison. :eek:

British police have arrested a 21-year-old man in connection with the hacking of toymaker VTech Holdings, which exposed the data of 6.4 million children, in what experts said is the largest known theft of personal data targeting kids.
 
Steve said:
Barely old enough to drink and facing prison time for stealing data of 6.4M kids. This guy will be popular in prison. :eek:

British police have arrested a 21-year-old man in connection with the hacking of toymaker VTech Holdings, which exposed the data of 6.4 million children, in what experts said is the largest known theft of personal data targeting kids.
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My first question would be, why the hell is VTech collecting and storing data on children?
 
m33pm33p said:
My first question would be, why the hell is VTech collecting and storing data on children?
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I agree. "Little Suzy Johnson said she likes candy. BUY MORE STOCK IN CANDY COMPANIES!!!!"

Ridiculous.
 
From what I've read about this case, it sounded like this guy only released as much information as necessary to prove it was legit. And, yeah, really curious to find out why VTech was saving this information and whom they were sharing/selling it to.
 
And the parents setup accounts to manage the devices and then create accounts for the kids. I've looked at getting one of these tablet for my kid, however the quality of the tablet and apps is horrible. Most of the time VTech stuff runs like complete garbage which would not have been acceptable in 15 years ago.
 
Well, he's been old enough to drink for 21 years. There's no legal limits in the UK for drinking, just for buying.
 
Had he just reported this to VTech as a security flaw he probably wouldn't be in trouble. On another note, data hoarding is wierd.
 
wait...isn't this shooting the messenger? I thought this guy was white hat
 
jojo69 said:
wait...isn't this shooting the messenger? I thought this guy was white hat
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Convicting white hats gives the computer terrorism folk something to do to justify their jobs. This is why Edward Snowden fled the country.
 
Steve said:
Barely old enough to drink
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Looks like other Brits beat me to it. We can buy booze at 18, but generally that starts a couple of years earlier.

You can sit in the beer garden at 16 with your parents, or drink with with a meal at that age. Or just drink at home as a 5 year old...

The problem here is clearly not ENOUGH booze. If he had been down the pub with his mates like he should have been then he would not have been at home trying to hack the kids toys. :D
 
data mining to make targeted ads is my guess. Not that hard to see that a child is more easy influenced than an adult, especially when they know what their weaknesses are.
 
mnewxcv said:
data mining to make targeted ads is my guess. Not that hard to see that a child is more easy influenced than an adult, especially when they know what their weaknesses are.
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Curious as to if that's in a EULA somewhere that has to be accepted.

Data collection on children devices is a bit weird. I can see why, but I can't see how it's very ethical.
 
V-Tech just kicked in yo. :D

I'm surprised I'm the first one to make this joke. ;)
 
Considering it's England, I have to assume he was literally "exposing" children.

What? Too soon?
 
m33pm33p said:
My first question would be, why the hell is VTech collecting and storing data on children?
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Silence! Do not detract from the more important crime that hacking is!
He could have ties to ISIS!!!
Any dissent could be interpreted as unpatriotic sentiment, or worse still, treason!
 
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