Bombay High Court Grants Ex-Parte Relief To School Trust After Cybercriminal Threatens To Leak Children's Sensitive Data
The Bombay High Court recently ordered a hacking group - FulcrumSec not to leak or make public, the 'stolen' sensitive information pertaining to children from thousands of schools in Mumbai and abroad run by Pratiksha Foundation Charitable Trust, for which the group has demanded USD 750,000. The High Court has also ordered Google and others to block the email IDs used by the hacking group so...
The Bombay High Court recently ordered a hacking group - FulcrumSec not to leak or make public, the 'stolen' sensitive information pertaining to children from thousands of schools in Mumbai and abroad run by Pratiksha Foundation Charitable Trust, for which the group has demanded USD 750,000.
The High Court has also ordered Google and others to block the email IDs used by the hacking group so as to ensure that the school's sensitive data is not leaked.
Single-judge Justice Arif Doctor on June 12 passed an ex-parte ad-interim order, directing FulcrumSec, which described itself as a "cyber criminal" not to leak or publish or divulge the sensitive data it has stolen from the petitioner-Trust's schools.
Notably, the Trust run various educational institutions in which thousands of children are enrolled and are imparted education. The Trust contended that it fell victim to an incident of hacking by which its databases containing confidential and highly sensitive information pertaining to the children to whom education is or had been imparted, have been compromised.
It pointed out that the information included not only details of the children's movements, but also details of medical conditions, including those affecting the mental health and well-being of various children.
The Trust received an email on May 12, by FulcrumSec, wherein a ransom amount of USD 750,000 was demanded, failing which the hacking group threatened to divulge the confidential information and make the same public.
On June 10, the group had sent an email to one of the parents, attaching the details of highly confidential information regarding several children, particularly concerning various mental health issues faced by them.
"I have perused the same and find what has been pointed out to me as being most disturbing. The disclosure of such highly sensitive and confidential information, particularly with regard to the mental health issues of the children, could indeed have grave and deleterious effects, in particular on the children themselves. Also, from what has been pointed out to me, the hacking group has details of the vocation, income and other details of the parents of the children and the daily movement of the children. Such information, if made public, could also potentially pose a grave risk to the safety of the children," Justice Doctor noted in the order.
On noting the nature of the information stolen and the threats issued by the hacking group, Justice Doctor opined that ad-interim reliefs in terms of directing the group not to divulge the details of any sensitive information, directing Google and others to block the email IDs used by the group for sending the threat emails etc was made out. The bench therefore, ordered accordingly.
The bench has posted the matter for further hearing till July 1.
Appearance:
Senior Advocate Dr Birendra Saraf along with Advocates Chirag Mody, Parag Khandhar, Soham Bhalerao, Tapan Radkar and Sankit Jain instructed by DSK Legal appeared for the Trust.
Case Title: Pratiksha Foundation Charitable Trust vs FulcrumSec [Interim Application (L) 19695 of 2026]