Hacker Accused of Attacking MGM Resorts Apprehended in Spain, According to Reports
A 22-year-old UK citizen, believed to be a significant figure in the infamous cyber intrusion of MGM Resorts International last year, was recently nabbed in Spain.
He is rumored to be associated with the malicious hacking group named Scattered Spider and is also under suspicion for his involvement in the hacking of Caesars Entertainment, along with other high-profile cyber attacks.
Sources from the media outlet Krebs on Security allegedly identified him as Tyler Buchanan from Dundee, Scotland, although this couldn't be immediately confirmed. The charges against him remain unclear.
The arrest took place as he was about to board a flight from Palma, Spain, bound for Italy, according to Murcia Today, a Spanish news source stated.
Reports also suggest that this suspect was implicated in the theft of $27M worth of Bitcoin from corporate accounts.
The criminals involved in this case were said to have practiced SIM-swapping, as per cybersecurity experts. This technique allows hackers to steal passwords that are utilized for account authentication. Security professionals also claimed that SMS phishing was employed in the attacks.
The Spanish Police and the US FBI were jointly investigating this case, with Spanish police making the arrest. Preparation for the case was done by the Los Angeles office of the FBI, as reported by Cybernews.
Krebs also reported that Tyler’s residence was breached last year by criminal mercenaries hired by other hacking groups. They threatened Tyler and his mother if they didn't surrender access to cryptocurrency wallets, the report said. He then fled Scotland due to safety concerns.
This month's arrest is a significant stride in combating high-profile cyber criminals.
Rafe Pilling, director of threat intelligence at Secureworks Counter Threat Unit, commented that this arrest is a significant blow to cyber criminal organizations. He further stated, "There's still a lot of ground to cover, but the assaults on these groups are relentless right now."
“These groups have long felt invulnerable, hiding behind the intricacies of the internet and the anonymity it provides, but the tide is turning,” Pilling explained. “This is interesting because the alleged culprits are operating from the UK and US, where, unlike with Russian-speaking groups, law enforcement can reach them.”
MGM, Caesars
Last September, MGM Resorts experienced a nearly weekly outage of its internal cybersecurity and data systems after a cyber attack carried out by Scattered Spider. MGM didn't pay any ransom to the hackers, yet they still faced a $100M hit to their third-quarter earnings and $10M in one-time expenses.
During the MGM attack, Scattered Spider successfully extorted tens of millions of dollars from Caesars Entertainment, as reported by Bloomberg News.
Additional Hacks
Apart from the casino companies, Scattered Spider has been linked to the hacking of Twilio, LastPass, DoorDash, Mailchimp, and more than 130 other organizations over the past couple of years, as reported by Krebs.
In January, Noah Urban, a 19-year-old who is also believed to be linked to high-profile hacks by Scattered Spider, was arrested in Florida. He is also known by the alias "King Bob."
Urban was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, as well as eight counts of wire fraud and five counts of aggravated identity theft.
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