Children at risk from grooming gangs as hackers leak private details to dark web
THOUSANDS of British school pupils have had their private details leaked online by a cyber gang, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Hackers stole private data including photocopies of children’s passports, disciplinary records and child protection reports relating to vulnerable pupils.
Experts last night warned that the hack left some youngsters exposed to grooming by criminal gangs.
The hackers plundered five schools and a sixth form college, including the £36,000-a-year independent Durham School, the alma mater of former Downing Street aide Dominic Cummings.
The gang, called Vice Society, then uploaded the data on to the socalled ‘dark web’ after the schools refused to pay a ransom demand.
Philip Ingram, a retired colonel in military intelligence, said: ‘The dark web is used increasingly by serious and organised criminals for a variety of purposes. They look for vulnerability in kids when grooming them for things like running drugs along county lines, for exploitation in paedophile rings or recruitment by terrorist and extremist groups. Any advantage they can get where they can access schoolkids’ information, especially if it highlights vulnerability, would be a benefit to them.’
Leaked documents included named year nine students at Pilton Community College in Barnstaple, Devon, who were classed as ‘vulnerable’ and working from home during the height of the pandemic early last year.
Other files stolen from The De Montfort School, Evesham, Worcestershire, revealed details of three students caught up in an alleged exam cheating ring.
Another file named a member of staff investigated for a ‘serious breach’ of the school’s code of conduct after swearing at a pupil.
The leak also includes a list of four students excluded from St Paul’s Catholic College in Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey. Another file named a pupil accused of theft and criminal damage. And another named a student who had been excluded after headbutting a fellow student and carrying a knife ‘hidden in blazer lining’.
Stolen pupil data was also leaked from Carmel College, St Helens, Merseyside, and Mossbourne Federation in Hackney, London.
Vice Society is believed to have demanded ransom payments from the schools and published the data online as a ‘punishment’ for their refusal to cooperate. The data was uploaded to the gang’s page on the dark web.
The same gang hacked supermarket chain Spar last year, crippling its payment systems.
Ruth Allen, head teacher at De Montfort School, said: ‘The Vice Society contacted us repeatedly in an attempt to extort money. We did not engage with any of their requests and all information was reported to the police. The police supported us throughout this time.
‘The attack has proven to be very upsetting for all involved. Work to restore the system is still ongoing as we are working through methodically to strengthen our security.’
Mossbourne and Carmel College said the incident had been reported to the authorities. Mike Hill, principal of Carmel College, said: ‘We did not engage with the threat. We continue to work through our investigation into this incident, with the wellbeing of our students and staff our absolute priority.’
The other schools did not respond to a request for comment.