Five hackers charged in US over Scattered Spider hacking campaigns
The US Department of Justice has charged four Americans and one UK citizen for alleged phishing, identity theft and cryptocurrency theft.
US law enforcement agencies have unveiled a raft of charges against five members of the Scattered Spider hacking group over an alleged hacking campaign targeting at least 12 companies.
Ahmed Hossam Eldin Elbadawy, 23, of Texas; Noah Michael Urban, 20, of Florida; Evans Onyeaka Osiebo, 20, of Texas; and Joel Martin Evans, 25, of North Carolina, were charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, one count of conspiracy and one count of aggravated identity theft each.
Evans was arrested this week by the FBI, while Urban also pleaded not guilty to previous fraud charges in a separate criminal case.
A fifth accusation was also revealed against British Tyler Robert Buchanan, 22. Buchanan faces charges similar to the other four.
The Justice Department alleges that the five, who the U.S. Attorney’s office in Los Angeles confirmed were linked to the Scattered Spider group, engaged in extensive hacking campaigns between September 2021 and April 2023. They engaged in phishing attacks based in SMS. steal employee credentials; The stolen credentials were then used to access company networks and steal sensitive information, such as intellectual property, personal information, and company data.
The five are also alleged to have used stolen credentials to access cryptocurrency wallets and steal millions of dollars in crypto assets.
“We allege that this group of cybercriminals perpetrated a sophisticated scheme to steal intellectual property and private information worth tens of millions of dollars and steal personal information belonging to hundreds of thousands of people,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in a department statement. of Justice.
“As this case shows, phishing and hacking [have] They become increasingly sophisticated and can cause enormous losses. If something in the text message or email you received or on the website you are viewing seems wrong, it probably is.”
Akil Davis, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, added that the alleged perpetrators “preyed on unsuspecting victims in this phishing scheme and used their personal information as a gateway to steal millions from their cryptocurrency accounts.” .
“These types of fraudulent claims are ubiquitous and rob American victims of their hard-earned money with the click of a mouse. “I am proud of our stellar cyber agents whose work led to the identification of the alleged conspirators who face significant prison time if convicted,” Davis said.
Although the Justice Department has not named the victims, Scattered Spider was previously responsible for high-profile attacks targeting Caesars Palace and MGM Resorts in Las Vegas.
