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A Group of Young Cybercriminals Poses the ‘Most Imminent Threat’ of Cyberattacks Right Now


The Scattered Spider hacking group has caused chaos among retailers, insurers, and airlines in recent months. Researchers warn that its flexible structure poses challenges for defense.

“There are some uniquely skilled actors in Scattered Spider when it comes to social engineering, and they have identified a major gap in our security systems that they’re successfully taking advantage of,” says John Hultquist, chief analyst in Google’s threat intelligence group. Though a number of incidents have not been publicly attributed, an overwhelming spree of recent attacks on UK grocery store chains, North American insurers, and international airlines has broadly been tied to Scattered Spider. Researchers say that the group has also used a tactic of creating convincing phishing websites where the URLs often include the name of the target organization along with words like “okta,” “vpn” or “helpdesk.” Once inside networks, the hackers deploy various typesof ransomware or steal data that is used to extort companies.

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