Someone hacked into the Sinterklaas (St Nicholas) Journal website and gained access to data concerning 13,000 children. The website, run by NTR broadcasting, is an interactive page for children.

NTR broadcasting announced on Tuesday that the hacker was able to access files containing the ages, names and e-mail addresses of children via an application that was not secure.

The application allowed kids to upload drawings and photographs to the Sinterklaas Journal. An NTR spokesperson said the security for the application was from 2005 and appeared to be out of date.

The site wasn’t hacked for malicious purposes; the hacker merely wanted to illustrate how poor the site’s security is. The hacker removed the sensitive information and then posted the data online and warned NTR on Sunday.

NTR has removed the application and the data from the website.

(jric/ae)

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