Cybercriminals have stolen personal data on more than 8,000 children attending nurseries in London run by childcare provider Kido International, according to claims posted by the hacking group Radiant on its dark web portal.
The gang published names, photos, home addresses, and family contact details of 10 children it said attended one of Kido’s 18 nurseries across Greater London. The group warned it would release 30 additional child profiles and data on 100 employees in the coming days.
The breach, one of the most sensitive cyber incidents in Britain this year, has raised urgent concerns about child safeguarding and data privacy. Kido International did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters. The Metropolitan Police confirmed in a statement that no arrests had been made, adding: “Enquiries are ongoing and remain in the early stages within the Met’s Cyber Crime Unit.”
Radiant claimed it had been inside Kido’s networks for weeks and told Reuters over an encrypted messaging app that it was based in Russia, though it provided no evidence. The group declined to disclose how much ransom it was seeking.
“Cybercriminals will target anyone if they think there is money to be made, and going after those who look after children is a particularly egregious act,” said Jonathon Ellison of the National Cyber Security Centre, which is part of Britain’s GCHQ intelligence agency.
The attack on Kido comes amid a wave of ransomware incidents in the UK this year. Jaguar Land Rover suppliers remain disrupted after a cyberattack forced production stoppages into October, while police earlier this week arrested a man linked to a ransomware assault on Collins Aerospace, a unit of RTX (RTX.N). That attack crippled check-in systems at London Heathrow and triggered travel chaos at airports across Europe.
In April, another hacker group, Scattered Spider, was blamed for crippling Marks & Spencer’s (MKS.L) online retail operations, leaving the company unable to take orders for weeks. The British retailer later forecast losses of around £300 million ($405 million) in operating profit for its 2025/26 financial year due to the breach.
