Spanish police have arrested a British nationwide accused of main an organized cybercrime gang that broke into dozens of U.S. corporations.
Spanish police confirmed in a press launch that the unnamed 22-year-old British nationwide was arrested at Palma Airport as he was making ready to go away the nation on a chartered flight to Naples.
Spanish police mentioned in an announcement that the accused hacker chief used phishing methods to steal passwords and broke into no less than 45 corporations in the USA, thereby stealing the corporate’s inside data and cryptocurrency. In accordance with police, the alleged hacker managed $27 million in cryptocurrency on the time of his arrest.
Police posted a video of the arrest on YouTube.
Spanish police didn’t identify the person defendant or the cybercriminal group he allegedly leads. An FBI spokesman declined to remark when contacted by TechCrunch.
TechCrunch has discovered that the individual arrested is the alleged chief of a gaggle planning a cyberattack on Twilio in 2022, in line with an individual with data of cybercriminal exercise.
The arrested suspect allegedly led a hacking group referred to as “0ktapus” that twice hacked into Twilio, an organization that gives cellphone and messaging providers to different corporations. A months-long hacking assault in 2022 stole the passwords of almost 10,000 workers, which have been then used to interrupt into the networks of Twilio clients. The group focused greater than 100 Twilio clients, together with DoorDash and Sign, utilizing a phishing lure that regarded just like the Okta login web page that gave the group its identify.
TechCrunch is just not naming the suspect as a result of it’s unclear whether or not he has been charged with any crime.
The arrests, which come almost two years after the 0ktapus gang first emerged as a cybercrime participant, underscore the complexity of investigating some cybercrime gangs.
The hackers are mentioned to be a part of a wider cybercrime group, dubbed “The Com” by researchers, which in recent times has emerged as a big, obscure community of principally younger individuals specializing in social engineering and impersonation. Ways, equivalent to tricking workers into handing over their firm passwords. The FBI not too long ago described the fee as “a really giant, widespread, rich group of people” mentioned to contain a couple of thousand individuals world wide, Cyberscoop reported. A few of the committee’s actions have concerned the usage of bodily violence and threats, together with assaults in opposition to hackers combating one another.
These related to the corporate, albeit by way of totally different group names and affiliations, have been accused of conducting cyberattacks on Las Vegas on line casino giants MGM and Caesars Leisure.
Earlier this yr, U.S. prosecutors charged a 19-year-old Florida resident with wire fraud, id theft and conspiracy. Safety journalist Brian Krebs linked the alleged hackers to the 0ktapus gang.
