All news with #scattered spider tag

🔍 DragonForce is a ransomware-as-a-service group that re-emerged in 2023 and has rebranded as a self-described "ransomware cartel," recruiting affiliates with generous revenue shares and customizable encryptors. Recent variants exploit vulnerable drivers like truesight.sys and rentdrv2.sys to disable security controls and shore up earlier encryption flaws. Its partnership with Scattered Spider combines elite social-engineering initial access with deployable ransomware, elevating risk to organizations globally.

🚨 ReliaQuest has uncovered a campaign attributed to the Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters that leverages more than 40 typosquatted domains impersonating Zendesk portals, including deceptive SSO pages designed to harvest credentials. The actors have also been observed submitting fraudulent helpdesk tickets to target support staff, aiming to deploy remote access trojans and other malware. Organizations are advised to enforce MFA with hardware keys, implement IP allowlisting and session timeouts, monitor domains and DNS, and harden chat controls and content filtering to mitigate the risk.

🔍 A prolific operator known as "Rey," one of three administrators of the Scattered LAPSUS$ Hunters (SLSH) Telegram channel, has confirmed his real-world identity after investigative outreach. Rey is tied to the recent release of the group's new RaaS offering ShinySp1d3r, which he says is derived from Hellcat ransomware code modified with AI tools. Reporting shows Rey made multiple operational security mistakes that allowed analysts to link him to a shared family PC in Amman, Jordan, revealing his name as Saif Al‑Din Khader and that he is a mid‑teens minor who says he is cooperating with law enforcement.

⚠️ Unit 42 documents a renewed campaign by the Scattered LAPSUS$ Hunters (SLSH) that combines a supply-chain driven data theft affecting Gainsight/Salesforce integrations with the emergence of a new Windows-focused ransomware-as-a-service, ShinySp1d3r. The actors publicly threatened mass ransomware deployment and set a leak deadline while also actively recruiting insiders and claiming hundreds of additional victim accesses. Organizations should prioritize rotating exposed tokens, enforcing strong insider controls, and engaging incident response if they suspect compromise.

🔒 CrowdStrike said it fired a “suspicious insider” after screenshots of company resources—including an Okta dashboard for internal access—appeared in a public Telegram channel run by Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters. The hackers claimed the material came from a Salesforce-ecosystem breach involving vendor Gainsight, a claim CrowdStrike denied. The company told TechCrunch investigators the images were produced when an employee shared pictures of their screen externally, that its systems were not compromised, and that customers remained protected. CrowdStrike has referred the matter to law enforcement.

🔒 Two British teenagers, identified by authorities as suspected members of the Scattered Spider collective, have pleaded not guilty to computer misuse and fraud-related charges at Southwark Crown Court. The charges stem from an August 2024 breach of Transport for London (TfL) that disrupted online services, caused millions in losses, and later was found to have exposed customer names, addresses, and contact details. Arrested in September 2024 by the NCA and City of London Police, the defendants face additional alleged conspiracies involving US healthcare networks and separate counts tied to seized passwords.

⚠️ On November 20, customer support platform provider Gainsight reported connection failures after Salesforce revoked active access for the Gainsight SFDC Connector following detection of unusual activity. Salesforce temporarily removed all Gainsight-published apps from its AppExchange, citing potential unauthorized access via the app's external connection rather than a Salesforce platform vulnerability. Gainsight also disabled integrations with HubSpot and Zendesk, and engaged Mandiant to support forensic work. A criminal collective claiming affiliation with Lapsus$/Scattered Spider said it was responsible and threatened wider data leaks and a RaaS offering.

📰 Jaguar Land Rover reported a cyberattack cost of £196 million ($220 million) for the July–September quarter after the incident forced production shutdowns and staff to be sent home. The breach, announced on 2 September 2025, involved confirmed data theft and was claimed on Telegram by the group Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters. Following a UK government-backed £1.5 billion loan guarantee, JLR says operations, wholesale and supplier financing have been restored and production has resumed under a phased restart.

🔐 Researchers at S-RM report a surge in activity by the Qilin ransomware-as-a-service operation, which leverages unpatched VPNs, single-factor remote access and exposed management interfaces to gain initial access. While some high-profile incidents hit healthcare, most victims are small-to-medium businesses in construction, healthcare and finance. S-RM also observed affiliates from Scattered Spider using Qilin’s platform, and noted new extortion channels including Telegram and public leak sites. The firm urges routine patching, widespread MFA adoption, network segmentation and proactive monitoring.

🕸 The nascent Scattered LAPSUS$ Hunters (SLH) collective — a merging of Scattered Spider, LAPSUS$, and ShinyHunters — has repeatedly recreated its Telegram presence, cycling channels at least 16 times since August 8, 2025. The group markets an extortion-as-a-service offering to affiliates, targets organizations including those using Salesforce, and has teased a custom ransomware family called Sh1nySp1d3r. Trustwave SpiderLabs assesses SLH as blending financially motivated crime with attention-seeking hacktivism and sophisticated brand management.

🔎 Trustwave SpiderLabs has identified a coordinated alliance now operating as Scattered LAPSUS$ Hunters (SLH), merging reputational capital from Scattered Spider, ShinyHunters and LAPSUS$. The collective presents a unified operational brand, complete with a named "Operations Centre," centralized narrative and affiliate-driven extortion model. Analysis attributes fewer than five core operators managing roughly 30 personas and highlights Telegram as a persistent command-and-branding hub. Trustwave warns this consolidation aims to fill the vacuum left by the collapse of BreachForums and to sustain public, intimidation-based extortion tactics.

🔍 Palo Alto Networks' Unit 42 reports monitoring a Scattered LAPSUS$ Hunters Telegram channel since early October 2025, noting a tactical shift toward an extortion-as-a-service (EaaS) offering that omits file encryption. Researchers also observed posts mentioning a potential new ransomware, SHINYSP1D3R, though its development and the profitability of EaaS remain uncertain. Unit 42 found the group's data leak site apparently defaced and confirmed leaked records tied to at least six firms; the actors had set an Oct 10 ransom deadline but later stated on Oct 11 that "nothing else will be leaked."

🚨 Unit 42 observed renewed activity from Scattered LAPSUS$ Hunters in early October 2025, including leaked data claims, a defaced clearnet leak site, and announcements of an extortion-as-a-service offering. The actors set a self-imposed ransom deadline of Oct. 10, 2025 and claimed to have released data allegedly from six victim companies across aviation, energy and retail. Unit 42 recommends organizations prepare EaaS incident playbooks and engage third-party responders.

🔒 Salesforce confirmed it will not engage with or pay extortion demands after a large-scale theft of customer data this year. Threat actors calling themselves Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters published a data-leak site to extort 39 companies, claiming nearly one billion records stolen. The breaches stemmed from two campaigns: late-2024 social engineering using malicious OAuth apps and an August 2025 campaign abusing stolen SalesLoft/Drift tokens to exfiltrate CRM and support-ticket data. The leak site appears to have been shut down and its domain redirected to nameservers previously associated with law enforcement seizures.

🔓 An extortion group claiming affiliation with ShinyHunters, Scattered Spider, and Lapsus$ has launched a public data leak site listing 39 companies allegedly compromised via Salesforce breaches. The site publishes sample records and urges victims to pay before an October 10 deadline, while also demanding that Salesforce pay to prevent disclosure of roughly 1 billion records. The attackers say they used OAuth-based voice-phishing and stolen tokens to access customer data. Victims named include FedEx, Disney/Hulu, Google, Cisco, and many other major brands.

⚠️Recent cyberattacks forced production halts at Jaguar Land Rover and Asahi, underscoring that operational disruption is now a primary objective for threat actors. JLR paused production after an August 31 compromise attributed to the Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters group, reportedly using vishing to obtain credentials, while Asahi halted orders and shipments following a systems failure. Experts emphasize that attackers exploit phishing, unpatched systems, and supply‑chain weaknesses, and urge layered defenses such as zero trust, MFA, PAM, micro‑segmentation, continuous monitoring, and air‑gapped backups to preserve business continuity.

🔒 Harrods has confirmed a new data breach after a compromise at a third-party supplier exposed 430,000 e-commerce customer records. The disclosed information primarily comprises names, contact details and internal marketing tags, while account passwords, payment information and order histories were not included. The retailer says this incident is separate from the May attack attributed to Scattered Spider and that the threat actor has contacted them, apparently seeking extortion. Harrods has notified affected customers and authorities and urges vigilance against phishing and social engineering.

🔒 Harrods has disclosed that some e-commerce customer data was stolen via a breach at a third-party provider, with the retailer notifying affected customers on Friday. The company says the exposed information is limited to basic personal identifiers such as names and contact details and does not include account passwords, payment details or order history. Harrods also said it was contacted by a threat actor but refused to engage, and that this incident is separate from attempts to access Harrods systems in May. Reports indicate as many as 430,000 customer records may have been impacted, in a broader environment of rising retail ransomware and supply-chain risk linked to groups such as Scattered Spider.

🔒 The Co-operative Group reported an £80 million operating profit loss in H1 2025 after an April cyberattack disrupted systems and trading. Management attributed the shortfall to £20 million of one‑off remediation costs and £60 million in lost sales while systems were offline, and said revenue fell by £206 million. The breach, linked to DragonForce and affiliates of Scattered Spider, exposed personal data for all 6.5 million members; four suspects have since been arrested. Despite the impact, Co-op reported £800 million of available liquidity and no immediate funding concerns.

🔒 A 17-year-old hacker who surrendered on charges tied to sophisticated cyber intrusions against Las Vegas casinos between August and October 2023 has been released into his parents' custody under family court supervision. Authorities link the incidents to the Scattered Spider group and the deployment of BlackCat/ALPHV ransomware that disrupted operations and exposed staff and customer data. The judge imposed strict conditions including residence at a registered parental address, prohibition on leaving Clark County, internet use limited to educational purposes, and restrictions on phones and electronics, with immediate detention for violations. Prosecutors say the suspect may still control about $1.8 million in Bitcoin and are seeking additional charges and to try him as an adult.