Police in Britain have arrested seven people including a teenage boy following a series of online attacks by the Lapsus$ hacking group that hit major technology firms including Okta and Microsoft.
“The City of London Police has been conducting an investigation with its partners into members of a hacking group,” Detective Inspector Michael O'Sullivan said in a statement on Thursday.
“Seven people between the ages of 16 and 21 have been arrested in connection with this investigation and have all been released under investigation.”
City of London Police did not directly name Lapsus$ in its statement, but cyber security experts say the group is behind the high-profile attacks that they say were motivated by money and notoriety.
This week, researchers traced a series of cyber attacks to a 16-year-old boy living at his mother’s house near Oxford, England, with some claiming the teenager is the group's ringleader.
Another member of Lapsus$ is suspected to be a teenager residing in Brazil, investigators said. One person investigating the group said security researchers have identified seven unique accounts associated with the hacking group, indicating that there are likely others involved in the group’s operations.
The teenager is so skilled at hacking that researchers initially thought the activity they were observing was automated, another person involved in the investigation said.
Lapsus$ have publicly taunted their victims, leaking their source codes and internal documents. The group even posted a series of screenshots of software company Okta's internal communications on their Telegram channel late on Monday.
The group has also claimed to have breached Samsung, Vodafone and Ubisoft.
After breaching Nvidia, Lapsus$ posted stolen source code from the company on their Telegram channel.
Lapsus$ has reportedly gone as far as to join the Zoom calls of companies they’ve breached, during which they have taunted employees and consultants trying to manage the hack.
Microsoft, which confirmed it had been hacked by Lapsus$, said in a blog post that the group has embarked on a “large-scale social engineering and extortion campaign against multiple organisations”.
The group’s primary modus operandi is to hack companies, steal their data and demand a ransom to avoid its release, and Microsoft said Lapsus$ has recruited insiders at victimised companies to assist in the hacks.
However Lapsus$ suffers from poor operational security, two of the researchers said, allowing cyber security companies to gain intimate knowledge about the hackers.
The teenage hacker in England has had his personal information, including his address and information about his parents, posted online by rival hackers.
The Thames Valley Police and the National Crime Agency, which investigates hacking in the UK, didn’t immediately respond to messages about the reported teenage hacker. The FBI’s San Francisco field office, which is investigating at least one of Lapsus$'s intrusions, declined to comment.
After its claim of hacking Otka generated a wave of headlines on Tuesday, Lapsus$ suggested it would be taking some time off from hacking the world’s biggest companies.
“A few of our members has a vacation until 30/3/2022. We might be quiet for some times,” the hackers wrote in its Telegram channel. “Thanks for understand us. — we will try to leak stuff ASAP.”
COMPANY PROFILE
Expert input
If you had all the money in the world, what’s the one sneaker you would buy or create?
“There are a few shoes that have ‘grail’ status for me. But the one I have always wanted is the Nike x Patta x Parra Air Max 1 - Cherrywood. To get a pair in my size brand new is would cost me between Dh8,000 and Dh 10,000.” Jack Brett
“If I had all the money, I would approach Nike and ask them to do my own Air Force 1, that’s one of my dreams.” Yaseen Benchouche
“There’s nothing out there yet that I’d pay an insane amount for, but I’d love to create my own shoe with Tinker Hatfield and Jordan.” Joshua Cox
“I think I’d buy a defunct footwear brand; I’d like the challenge of reinterpreting a brand’s history and changing options.” Kris Balerite
“I’d stir up a creative collaboration with designers Martin Margiela of the mixed patchwork sneakers, and Yohji Yamamoto.” Hussain Moloobhoy
“If I had all the money in the world, I’d live somewhere where I’d never have to wear shoes again.” Raj Malhotra
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Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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Founder: Kamal Nazha
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The specs
THE DETAILS
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Dir: Ron Howard
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3/5
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Checking: the obsession or thoughts focus on some harm coming from things not being as they should, which usually centre around the theme of safety. For example, the obsession is “the building will burn down”, therefore the compulsion is checking that the oven is switched off.
Contamination: the obsession is focused on the presence of germs, dirt or harmful bacteria and how this will impact the person and/or their loved ones. For example, the obsession is “the floor is dirty; me and my family will get sick and die”, the compulsion is repetitive cleaning.
Orderliness: the obsession is a fear of sitting with uncomfortable feelings, or to prevent harm coming to oneself or others. Objectively there appears to be no logical link between the obsession and compulsion. For example,” I won’t feel right if the jars aren’t lined up” or “harm will come to my family if I don’t line up all the jars”, so the compulsion is therefore lining up the jars.
Intrusive thoughts: the intrusive thought is usually highly distressing and repetitive. Common examples may include thoughts of perpetrating violence towards others, harming others, or questions over one’s character or deeds, usually in conflict with the person’s true values. An example would be: “I think I might hurt my family”, which in turn leads to the compulsion of avoiding social gatherings.
Hoarding: the intrusive thought is the overvaluing of objects or possessions, while the compulsion is stashing or hoarding these items and refusing to let them go. For example, “this newspaper may come in useful one day”, therefore, the compulsion is hoarding newspapers instead of discarding them the next day.
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Results
Men's finals
45kg:Duc Le Hoang (VIE) beat Zolfi Amirhossein (IRI) points 29-28. 48kg: Naruephon Chittra (THA) beat Joseph Vanlalhruaia (IND) TKO round 2.
51kg: Sakchai Chamchit (THA) beat Salam Al Suwaid (IRQ) TKO round 1. 54kg: Veerasak Senanue (THA) beat Huynh Hoang Phi (VIE) 30-25.
57kg: Almaz Sarsembekov (KAZ) beat Tak Chuen Suen (MAC) RSC round 3. 60kg: Yerkanat Ospan (KAZ) beat Ibrahim Bilal (UAE) 30-27.
63.5kg: Abil Galiyev (KAZ) beat Nouredine Samir (UAE) 29-28. 67kg: Narin Wonglakhon (THA) beat Mohammed Mardi (UAE) 29-28.
71kg: Amine El Moatassime (UAE) w/o Shaker Al Tekreeti (IRQ). 75kg: Youssef Abboud (LBN) w/o Ayoob Saki (IRI).
81kg: Ilyass Habibali (UAE) beat Khaled Tarraf (LBN) 29-28. 86kg: Ali Takaloo (IRI) beat Emil Umayev (KAZ) 30-27.
91kg: Hamid Reza Kordabadi (IRI) beat Mohamad Osaily (LBN) RSC round 1. 91-plus kg: Mohammadrezapoor Shirmohammad (IRI) beat Abdulla Hasan (IRQ) 30-27.
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63.5kg: Nadiya Moghaddam (IRI) w/o Reem Al Issa (JOR).
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Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
SERIE A FIXTURES
Saturday Benevento v Atalanta (2pm), Genoa v Bologna (5pm), AC Milan v Torino (7.45pm)
Sunday Roma v Inter Milan (3.30pm), Udinese v Napoli, Hellas Verona v Crotone, Parma v Lazio (2pm), Fiorentina v Cagliari (9pm), Juventus v Sassuolo (11.45pm)
Monday Spezia v Sampdoria (11.45pm)
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
National Editorial: Suleimani has been killed, now we must de-escalate
Mina Al Oraibi: Air strike casts a long shadow over the decade ahead
Jack Moore: Why the assassination is such a monumental gamble
Matthew Levitt: Iran retains its ability to launch terror attacks
Hussein Ibish: Trump's order on solid constitutional ground
Simon Waldman: Cautious Israel keeping a low profile
