UK authorities arrest 4 suspected members of hacker group Scattered Spider

The Nationwide Crime Company (NCA) in London two 19-year-old males, a 17-year-old boy and a 20-year-old girl on suspicion of blackmail, cash laundering, organized crime and contravening the . These arrests are a part of an investigation right into a collection of cyberattacks on three giant UK retailers — Marks & Spencer, Harrods and Co-op — earlier this 12 months.

UK investigators imagine the suspects are linked with a loose-knit English-speaking hacker group referred to as Scattered Spider, which has been blamed for a collection of . For Co-op, this was the , after a hacking group referred to as DragonForce gained entry to the retailer’s membership knowledge. in 2023 when US-based on line casino chain Caesars Leisure reportedly paid tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} to the group in an effort to preserve its prospects’ knowledge from being uncovered.

Marks & Spencer was and was pressured to close down its on-line retailer for over a month. Co-op fell sufferer the identical month in an assault that led to a partial shutdown of its IT system. disclosed on Could 1 that it had staved off an tried assault by proscribing web entry throughout its web sites.

“Since these assaults occurred, specialist NCA cybercrime investigators have been working at tempo and the investigation stays one of many company’s highest priorities,” , head of the NCA’s nationwide cybercrime unit.

The 4 suspects stay in custody for questioning.