British authorities revealed the apprehension of a 17-year-old boy on Thursday in connection with a cyber intrusion that affected Transport for London (TfL).
“The Computer Misuse Act offenses-related arrest of the 17-year-old male in connection to the attack on TfL was executed on September 1,” as per the U.K. National Crime Agency (NCA) announced.
The youth, hailing from Walsall, was apprehended on September 5, 2024, following a post-incident inquiry.
The NCA mentioned that the unnamed person was interrogated and subsequently released on bail.
“Such infrastructural attacks can lead to significant disruptions and severe ramifications for local communities and national systems,” remarked Deputy Director Paul Foster, who leads NCA’s National Cyber Crime Unit.
“Prompt response by TfL post the incident has facilitated our quick actions, and we appreciate their continual collaboration with the ongoing investigation,” he added.
TfL has verified that the breach has caused unauthorized retrieval of bank account details and sort codes for approximately 5,000 clients and that it intends to directly notify those affected.
“Although the impact on our customers has been minimal, the scenario is evolving, and our examinations have revealed the unauthorized access of specific customer data,” TfL stated.
“This includes some client names and contact details, such as email addresses and residential addresses if provided.”
Notably, in July 2024, authorities in West Midlands had previously nabbed a 17-year-old lad from Walsall for involvement in a ransomware strike on MGM Resorts. The attack was attributed to the notorious Scattered Spider gang.
It is presently unclear whether these incidents are linked to the same person. Also, in June, a 22-year-old U.K. citizen was arrested in Spain for alleged engagement in several ransomware attacks orchestrated by Scattered Spider, as reported.
This malicious cyber group is part of a broader entity known as The Com, a loosely connected network of various groups involved in cybercrime, squatting, and even violent activities. It’s also known by names such as 0ktapus, Octo Tempest, and UNC3944.
Per a recent report by EclecticIQ, Scattered Spider’s ransomware activities have increasingly targeted cloud infrastructures in the insurance and financial sectors, aligning with a comparable analysis from Resilience Threat Intelligence in May 2024.
The group has a documented history of attaining continuous access to cloud environments through sophisticated social engineering tactics, procuring stolen credentials, executing SIM swaps, and exploiting cloud-native tools.
“Scattered Spider regularly employs voice phishing (vishing) and text message phishing (smishing) techniques to manipulate and mislead targets, focusing mainly on IT service desks and identity administrators,” noted security researcher Arda Büyükkaya highlighted.
“The cybercriminal group misuses legitimate cloud utilities like Azure’s Special Administration Console and Data Factory for remote command execution, data transfer, and maintaining undetected persistence.”
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