Harrods has warned its e-commerce customers that their personal data may have been taken in an IT systems breach.

Information like customers’ names and contact details was taken after one of Harrods’ third-party provider systems was compromised, the luxury London department store said.

Affected customers have been informed and reassured that the impacted data is “limited to basic personal identifiers”, a spokesperson said.

Account passwords or payment details were not affected in the breach.

“The third party has confirmed this is an isolated incident which has been contained, and we are working closely with them to ensure that all appropriate actions are being taken. We have notified all relevant authorities,” Harrods added.

“No Harrods system has been compromised and it is important to note that the data was taken from a third-party provider.”

This comes four months after the department store restricted internet access as a precautionary measure due to “attempts to gain unauthorised access” to some of its systems.

Friday’s breach is “unconnected” to the attempts in May, the spokesman said.

Two men aged 19, a 17-year-old boy and a 20-year-old woman were arrested in July over their suspected involvement in cyber attacks on Harrods, Marks & Spencer, and the Co-op.

Read more from Sky News:
Jaguar Land Rover shutdown extended after cyber attack
Teenagers charged over TfL cyber attack costing millions

They were arrested on suspicion of blackmail, money laundering, offences linked ot the Computer Misuse Act, and participating in the activities of an organised crime group, the National Crime Agency said.

All four have been bailed pending further inquiries.

It comes as hackers claim to have stolen pictures, names and addresses of thousands of children in a cyber attack on a nursery chain in London.

The group, calling itself Radiant, has released personal information about children and staff at the Kido nursery chain on the dark web and demanded a ransom from the company.

Radiant told Sky News on Friday it intends to imminently release the profiles of more children and employees.

Hackers who claimed to have stolen pictures, names and addresses of over 8,000 children in a cyber attack on a nursery chain have told Sky News they will release the profiles of more children and employees.

The group, calling itself Radiant, had posted images of children attending the Kido nursery chain in London on the dark web and demanded a ransom from the company.

So far, the information released has been restricted to the personal contact details of children who attend the nurseries, as well as their parents and carers.

Radiant has told Sky News they intend to imminently release a new set of data, including the profiles of 30 more children and 100 employees.

It said the release would include the personal information of the employees including “full names, national insurance numbers, DOBs [date of births], full addresses, employment start date, email addresses and more”.

The stolen information on the children includes medical records, incident reports and the allocation of drugs and medicine given to the children.

The group claimed it typically demands around 1.5% of a company’s yearly revenue in ransom.

Sky News understands the group has not received any money from the Kido nursery group.

Read more from Sky News:
Harrods customers’ details stolen in IT systems breach
Farage on course to be next PM, mega poll projects
Terror charge against rapper cannot continue, court says

On Thursday, parents whose children attend a Kido nursery branch told Sky News they had received an email confirming the data incident and had been offered reassurance by the company.

An Information Commissioner’s Office spokesperson said: “Kido International has reported an incident to us and we are assessing the information provided.”

The Metropolitan Police said they “received a referral on Thursday, 25 September, following reports of a ransomware attack on a London-based organisation”.

They said enquiries are at the early stages and no arrests have been made.

Ciaran Martin, former chief of the National Cyber Security Centre, which is part of the GCHQ spy agency, told Sky News presenter Samantha Washington he believes the nursery chain should not pay the ransom.

“This data is not coming back. That’s the bit that isn’t reassuring. There is no way of guaranteeing the suppression of this data,” he said, adding hacking groups often sell the data on to other criminals or use it for scams or fraud.

“And when law enforcement get to this group, even if the nursery pays the ransom, they’ll find the data – they won’t delete it. They never do. So it won’t achieve anything.”

Recent high-profile victims of cyber criminals in the UK include retail giant Marks and Spencer, which lost an estimated £300m in a ransomware attack earlier this year.

Meanwhile, the government has been urged to step in this week to support suppliers affected by a cyber attack on Jaguar Land Rover, after the car-making firm was forced to halt production at the end of August.

A Kido spokesperson said: “We recently identified and responded to a cyber incident. We are working with external specialists to investigate and determine what happened in more detail.

“We swiftly informed both our families and the relevant authorities and continue to liaise closely with them.”

Call handlers at the mental health helpline Samaritans are warning of a mass exodus of volunteers after the charity announced plans to close branches.

The ‘volunteer listeners’ say a shortage of people taking calls will lead to longer wait times to have them answered.

In July, Samaritans chief executive Julie Bentley said it was no longer sustainable to have so many branches.

In a video message to staff, seen by Sky News, she said: “Many of the branches we have today came into existence at a time when Samaritans was set up as a local service, providing separate local numbers. But that hasn’t been the case for some time.

“Our service today doesn’t need the number of buildings we currently have.”

Colm Martin, a volunteer listener for five years, said the announcement came “out of the blue”.

“We cannot make sense of it. This is supposed to be about improving a service and we can’t understand how closing half of all of the branches will improve the service or encourage more volunteers to come forward.”

Mr Martin says he thinks Samaritans will lose volunteers.

“Not because they want to leave, but because they’re forced out, because there isn’t a branch local to them that they can go to,” he said.

Last year, three million people called the Samaritans in need of support. Its website reads “every life lost to suicide is a tragedy”.

Read more from Sky News:
King and Queen set to meet Pope Leo
Hackers ‘behind nursery cyber attack’ reveal details of threat
Musk and Prince Andrew named in latest Epstein files release

About 23,000 trained volunteers work with the charity to listen and provide fast support to those experiencing suicidal thoughts as well as other mental health issues.

Ms Bentley told Sky News: “The improvements we’re proposing would mean callers getting through to Samaritans quicker while making it easier for anyone to join our amazing group of volunteers, regardless of their circumstances or busy lifestyles.

“Samaritans will continue to be there for those struggling to cope across the UK and Republic of Ireland, day and night, 365 days a year.”

Surbiton-based Angela remembers calling Samaritans for help 40 years ago when her father was dying of cancer.

“Whenever I reached out to any family member, they’d say ‘oh come on, you’re strong, you know what you’re doing. You’re a nurse’, she said.

“One night, I just reached an emotional limit. It was about two o’clock in the morning, and I thought ‘I’m going to burst here’.”

Angela says she cannot recall how long the call lasted but says it was answered quickly.

“He hardly spoke, he just let me empty all my thoughts and he listened,” she said. “That was so powerful to have someone just listening and not interrupting, not dismissing my feelings.”

The charity is set to vote on the proposed changes, which would take place over the next seven to 10 years, this weekend, although in Ireland the consultation process is not due to start until 2027.

Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK.

Alternatively, you can call Mind’s support line on 0300 102 1234, or NHS on 111.