What you need to know
- The Lapsus$ group has been causing trouble for huge companies such as NVIDIA, Samsung, and Microsoft.
- Based on new arrests in the UK, it turns out the cybercriminal gang may be an operation ran, at least in part, by teenagers.
- One of the boys in the group, who has allegedly amassed approximately $14 million, is now having computer access restricted by his dad.
What were you doing when you were 16 years old? Because, if a new report is to be believed, that's the age of one of the teenager masterminds behind Lapsus$, the cybercriminal group that's stolen from giants such as Microsoft, NVIDIA, and Samsung.
It's hard to name another group that has caused as much of a public stir as Lapsus$ in 2022, and as exposed by a BBC report, all that ruckus may boil down to a couple of young people, including teenagers.
According to the City of London Police, "seven people between the ages of 16 and 21 have been arrested in connection with an investigation into a hacking group. They have all been released under investigation. Our inquiries remain ongoing."
Though the police haven't confirmed if the aforementioned sixteen-year-old boy is among those seven, his name has been publicly outed (though will not be disclosed here since he's a minor), as has his connection with Lapsus$. Based on a report by Bloomberg, the boy's been being tracked by cybersecurity experts for almost a year. But his identity only hit the web as a result of business associates outing him.
The boy, who attends a special education school in Oxford, is said to have accrued $14 million from his activities. His dad told the BBC the following: "I always thought he was playing games." The dad also stated he will try to limit the boy's access to computers going forward.
Perhaps this is a cautionary tale for parents who think their kids are enjoying the best Xbox Game Pass games: Your kid may be earning millions while forcing Microsoft to publicly explain itself after 90% of Bing's source code hits the web.
