Goldman Scarlato & Penny, P.C. is investigating a possible claim on behalf of all persons and entities whose private information was compromised as a result of a data breach announced by VTech Holdings Ltd. (“VTech”) on November 27, 2015.
VTech announced that the stolen data included names, email addresses, encrypted passwords, secret questions and answers for password retrieval, IP addresses, mailing addresses, download histories and children’s names, genders and birth dates.
According to technology news site Motherboard, the Vtech data breach also included photos and chat logs from VTech’s Kid Connect, a chat service between kids using the VTech tablet and adults on their smartphones. Consumers using VTech’s Learning Lodge app store were also affected.
VTech is a digital toy maker based in Hong Kong. It specializes in tablets for kids and other educational gadgets. On Monday, the attorney general offices in both Connecticut and Illinois announced that they are investigating the data breaches.
On November 27, 2015, Vtech announced that its network had been hacked. The VTech data breach actually occurred on November 14, 2015, almost two weeks before the public announcement. The stolen information contained records from about 4.9 million parent accounts and 6.7 million kid profiles. The attack was on a portal which is used by consumers to download games to tablets.
According to Hong Kong Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data Stephen Wong, it is not yet clear whether children were specifically targeted. But as we have seen with recent massive data breaches, the sale of PII (personally identifiable information) is thriving and the availability of stolen PII often leads to identity theft.
In its online statement, VTech has admitted that its database was not adequately secured. “Regretfully our database was not as secure as it should have been. Upon discovering the breach, we immediately conducted a comprehensive check of the affected site and have taken thorough actions against future attacks.”
V-Tech’s Learning Lodge app store has been temporarily suspended.
If you believe that you are a victim of the VTech data breach, please contact a GSP attorney to learn more about your rights. GSP attorneys are actively litigating data breach actions against Community Health Systems, Anthem, Premera, Intuit, Medical Informatics Engineering, United Shore and Target. Please contact Mark Goldman at goldman@lawgsp.com or Paul Scarlato at scarlato@lawgsp.com or call (484) 342-0700 with any questions you may have.
