UK authorities arrest four suspected members of hacker group Scattered Spider
The National Crime Agency (NCA) in London two 19-year-old men, a 17-year-old boy and a 20-year-old woman on suspicion of blackmail, money laundering, organized crime and contravening the . These arrests are part of an investigation into a series of cyberattacks on three large UK retailers — Marks & Spencer, Harrods and Co-op — earlier this year.
UK investigators believe the suspects are connected with a loose-knit English-speaking hacker group called Scattered Spider, which has been blamed for a series of . For Co-op, this was the , after a hacking group called DragonForce gained access to the retailer’s membership data. in 2023 when US-based casino chain Caesars Entertainment reportedly paid tens of millions of dollars to the group in order to keep its customers’ data from being exposed.
Marks & Spencer was and was forced to shut down its online store for over a month. Co-op fell victim the same month in an attack that led to a partial shutdown of its IT system. disclosed on May 1 that it had staved off an attempted attack by restricting internet access across its websites.
“Since these attacks took place, specialist NCA cybercrime investigators have been working at pace and the investigation remains one of the agency’s highest priorities,” , head of the NCA’s national cybercrime unit.
The four suspects remain in custody for questioning.
