A report from the BBC claims the group in question is Lapsus$. It is unclear if one of the teens arrested and released was the alleged 16-year-old mastermind referenced in an earlier report from Bloomberg. The BBC report also mentions a 16-year-old from Oxford. The child, who can’t be named for legal reasons, is said to have autism and attends a special education school.
The boy’s father said he hadn’t heard anything about the matter until recently. “He’s never talked about any hacking, but he is very good on computers and spends a lot of time on the computer. I always thought he was playing games.” The BBC claims the hacker was outed after a falling out with a business partner. Allison Nixon, chief research officer at cyber-security investigation company Unit 221B, claims they have known his identity since the middle of last year. “Unit 221B working with [cyber-security company] Palo Alto after identifying the actor, watched him on his exploits throughout 2021, periodically sending law enforcement a heads-up about the latest crimes,” Nixon said. The security researcher said the hacker failed to cover his tracks online, making it easier to track his activity. Lapsus$ in a Telegram message on Wednesday said some of its members were on vacation until March 30. We might be quiet for some times. Thanks for understand us - we will try to leak stuff ASAP." Image credit Kindel Media, cottonbro
