UK Teen Accused Of Masterminding LAPSUS$ Hacks That Raked In Millions

Lapsus$ is a relatively new group that has been taking the hacking world by storm, stealing data from large companies and threatening to release their code unless they pay a ransom demand. According to KrebsOnSecurity, the group’s first scheme took place in December 2021, when it placed on extortion demand on Brazil’s Ministry of Health. Since then, it’s been making headlines by breaching mobile, software, and gaming companies from within its supposed home country of Brazil and the UK, as well as some other countries, and posting screenshots of the stolen data.

Microsoft wrote in a blog post on Tuesday, March 22, 2022, that it managed to intercept Lapsus$, which its system called DEV-0537, before it could finish downloading the group’s source code. The company said it was able to do so because it found that Lapsus$ publicly announces its targets on social media — specifically Telegram, where its channel has garnered over 47,000 subscribers — and advertises attempts to buy access to internal data from employees of their targeted companies. Thankfully, Microsoft said that “no customer code or data was involved” in the group’s latest data extortion scheme; however, it stole source code for multiple products, such as Bing and Cortana.

Researchers found that one of the suspected members of Lapsus$ is allegedly another teenager living in Brazil, and that another member has such extensive hacking capabilities they thought some of the work was automated. Other details surrounding Lapsus$ are still a little murky.