Ransomware, Threat Intelligence

Suspected Scattered Spider leader apprehended

handcuffs sit on the keyboard of a laptop. cybercrime

The FBI and Spanish police were reported by the Spanish daily Murcia Today to have arrested a UK man suspected to be the leader of the Scattered Spider hacking collective as part of a joint operation, according to KrebsOnSecurity.

No further details regarding the identity of the suspect, who was alleged by the Spanish police to have amassed $27 million worth of Bitcoin, were provided but the accused was noted by vx-underground to be "Tyler," a prolific SIM swapper tied to Scattered Spider. Moreover, the hacker was also recognized by sources close to the matter as Scotland-based Tyler Buchanan, also known as "tylerb" on Telegram SIM swapping-oriented channels.

Such a development comes months after the detainment of Floridian Noah Michael Urban for his alleged involvement with Scattered Spider's attacks against cloud communications firm Twilio and more than 160 of its customers. Other organizations impacted by Scattered Spider include Mailchimp, LastPass, and DoorDash.

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