VTech Toys Hacked : More Than 6 Million Children Targeted

Vtech is best known as a maker of electronic learning devices for children, and late last week it confirmed that data belonging to customers of its Learning Lodge portal was breached in a recent hack. The hack also included information on more than 200,000 kids including first names, genders, birthdays and in some cases photographs. It also includes adult user information including names, email addresses, passwords, secret questions and answers for password retrieval, IP addresses, mailing addresses and download histories.

But it wasn't just names, email addresses, and physical addresses that were exposed through the hack, but also "thousands" of photos of parents and children, as well as chat logs; this was revealed Monday by Motherboard, the same tech site that first broke reports of the Vtech hack.

In another major concern, the photos, chat logs and recordings stolen from the company's server can be traced back to specific usernames, meaning those in possession of the hacked material could potentially track down and identify the people using VTech's products.

Selfies of children and their parents were part of data stolen in the VTech hack that saw more than five million customers' details illegally accessed. Through a spokeswoman, VTech declined comment beyond the company statement.

There remains no evidence the hacker in the breach is seeking to profit from the data or cause harm to those affected. "It was pretty easy to dump, so someone with darker motives could easily get it", the hacker told Motherboard in an encrypted chat. Customers use Learning Lodge to download apps, learning games and e-books to VTech products such as learning tablets.

He said: "All communications are over unencrypted connections, including when passwords, parent's details and sensitive information about kids is transmitted".

It's unclear why VTech was targeted, but attorneys general in IL and CT announced that they will investigate the incident.