RUSSIAN hackers have leaked the personal details of stars including Sir David Attenborough and Sarah Ferguson on the dark web.
The data, stolen from luxury food company Daylesford, includes sensitive information about the two celebs, as well as tennis star Tim Henman and snooker ace Ronnie O'Sullivan, among others.
The Duchess of York was not even the only royal targeted, as Lady Sarah Chatto, the King's cousin, also appeared on the list.
A gang known as "Snatch Team" hacked the data in an attempt to blackmail the organic food firm, then leaked it when bosses refused to pay up.
It is believed that they used ransomware, a type of software that steals data and withholds it until a ransom is paid.
Attacks can be as simple as getting a target to click an innocent-looking link, usually by impersonating a trusted source like a bank, which downloads the software onto their computer.
Daylesford admitted the hack in June last year, adding that no personal data had been compromised.
However, since then, the criminals have uploaded a large cache of filed, including order sheets for wealthy clients and sensitive documents like staff grievance reports and banking information.
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Ex-PM Boris Johnson is believed to have ordered from Daylesford during lockdown, but his name was not in the leaked files.
The company is named after Daylesford House, home to its founder Lady Carole Bamford, the wife of Tory mega-donor and JCB construction owner Lord Bamford.
It operates a shop on their Gloucestershire estate, four branches in London and another outlet online.
Daylesford house was also the venue for Mr Johnson's wedding to wife Carrie.
Experts have warned that the hack was a "wake-up call" in relation to the growing threat of Kremlin cyber-attacks.
Russian cyber-crime has been on the up since the invasion of Ukraine in February amid the stiff response from the UK and the West in general.
Indeed "Snatch Team" hacked fast food giant McDonald's on the same day the invasion was launched.
Philip Ingram, formerly a colonel in British military intelligence, said: "This cyber attack should be a wake-up call for the security services and businesses.
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Martin Lewis has good news for workers earning less than £50,000
"Daylesford is exactly the kind of company that would be viewed by Russia-based hackers as both a lucrative ransomware opportunity and of potential use to power brokers in the Kremlin."
Meanwhile, The National Cyber Security Centre said that the threat of cyber-attacks on the UK "remains heightened".
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