British Authorities Make Arrest Regarding VTech Hacking Scandal

A 21-year-old man was arrested Tuesday in connection with a massive hacking scandal involving children's electronic toys.

The South East Regional Organised Crime Unit — a task force of local and national law enforcement agencies in the U.K. — announced the arrest in the town of Bracknell, located about 30 miles west of London.

The man was held on suspicion of unauthorized computer-related activities related to the hacking of VTech children's technology products.

The SEROCU Cyber Crime Unit also seized a "number of electronic items" for forensic analysis.

“We are still at the early stages of the investigation and there is still much work to be done," Craig Jones, head of the Cyber Crime Unit, said in a statement. "We will continue to work closely with our partners to identify those who commit offenses and hold them to account."

The hacking of VTech Holdings' Learning Lodge database in November reportedly compromised the personal information of 6.4 million children and 4.9 million affiliated parent accounts.

Hong Kong-based VTech said that the attack involved only children's names, ages and genders, but experts said that information alone could lead to identify theft in the future.

Parental accounts, meanwhile, reportedly included critical information such as passwords, security questions, IP addresses and home and email information. Financial account information was not compromised in the attack, according to VTech.