U.S. prosecutors on Wednesday announced criminal charges against five people alleged to be members of Scattered Spider, a loosely organized hacker community suspected of infiltrating dozens of U.S. companies and stealing confidential information and cryptocurrencies.
U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada in Los Angeles said the defendants conducted a phishing attack that bombarded employees' cell phones with fake but genuine-looking text messages warning them that their accounts would be disabled.
The hackers, who were in their teens or 20s at the time, led employees to a link to enter their login information, allowing the hackers to steal from their employers and millions of dollars in cryptocurrency from their personal accounts. has been done.
Victims are said to include at least 12 companies in the gaming, outsourcing, telecommunications, and cryptocurrency sectors, as well as hundreds of thousands of individuals.
Estrada's office confirmed that the case involves Scattered Spider. The victim's name has not been released.
Security experts and officials say Scattered Spider is made up of small groups, including young people, who work together intermittently on specific tasks.
The group is said to be responsible for an unusually aggressive cybercrime epidemic targeting large multinational corporations and individual crypto investors.
Industry sources told Reuters last year that although the identities of some of the suspects, including several in Western countries, are known, some experts previously said law enforcement had He is said to have been dissatisfied with the lack of enforcement.
That may be changing now.
“Gone are the days of easy money with no consequences,” said Alison Nixon, principal research officer at cybersecurity firm Unit 221B. “Security guards and law enforcement are now actively combating this wave of cybercrime. Young people who have fallen into the online criminal culture need to get out before they become the next target.”
The defendant is Tyler Buchanan, 22, from Scotland. Ahmed Elbadawi, 23, of College Station, Texas. Joel Evans, 25, of Jacksonville, North Carolina. Evans Osigbo, 20, of Dallas. Noah Urban, 20, of Palm Coast, Florida.
Each was charged with two counts of conspiracy and aggravated identity theft, and Buchanan was also charged with wire fraud.
Investigators tracked Buchanan through domain registration records for a phishing website registered to an account whose username included the name of the late actor Bob Saget.
According to officials, the suspect's illegal activities lasted from September 2021 to April 2023.
Scattered Spider gained particular notoriety in September 2023 when community members infiltrated and blocked the networks of casino operators Caesars Entertainment and MGM Resorts International, demanding large ransom payments. Caesars paid about $15 million to restore the network.
It is unclear whether these five defendants are connected to the Scattered Spider casino hack.
The Justice Department declined to comment on specific victims. Caesars did not respond to a request for comment. MGM said the defendants do not appear to be involved in the cyberattack on its network.
Evans was arrested in North Carolina on Tuesday. Urban has pleaded not guilty to 14 counts of fraud and conspiracy in a separate case in Florida.
Spanish authorities said Buchanan was arrested in June at the airport in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, as he was about to board a flight to Naples. He is awaiting extradition from Spain, a Justice Department spokesperson said.
A public defender representing Urban did not respond to a request for comment. Lawyers for the other defendants were not immediately identified.
