Right this moment, the Brazilian Federal Police arrested a Brazilian suspect in Feira de Santana, Bahia, believed to be a part of the Lapsus$ extortion gang.
The suspect was detained following an investigation began in December 2021 after final 12 months’s breach of the Brazilian Ministry of Well being.
Throughout the incident, the attackers deleted information and defaced the Ministry of Well being web site to show a message the place the Lapsus$ hacking group claimed the assault and mentioned it had stolen knowledge from the ministry’s community.
The investigations that led to the arrest are a results of Operation Darkish Cloud, launched in August and aiming to gather data on the exercise of a potential felony group behind a number of cyberattacks concentrating on Brazilian authorities businesses for the reason that finish of final 12 months.
Apart from the Ministry of Well being, the group additionally focused dozens of different Brazilian Federal Authorities our bodies and entities, together with the Ministry of Financial system, the Comptroller Common of the Union, and the Federal Freeway Police.
“The crimes decided within the police investigation are these of felony group, invasion of a pc gadget, interruption or disturbance of telegraphic, radiotelegraphic or phone service, stopping or hindering its restoration,” the Brazilian Federal Police mentioned (automated translation).
“It was additionally discovered the follow of corruption of minors, a criminal offense supplied for within the Statute of Youngsters and Adolescents, and cash laundering, in response to Legislation No. 9,613/1998.”
Lapsus$ member arrests
The Metropolis of London Police additionally arrested seven people from the UK in late March underneath suspicions that they had been linked with the Lapsus$ gang.
Two of them had been charged on April 2nd with serving to the Lapsus$ extortion gang. They had been each launched on bail after showing within the Highbury Nook Magistrates Courtroom.
The Lapsus$ gang has made the information this 12 months after attacking high-profile tech firms worldwide, together with Microsoft, Nvidia, Samsung, Ubisoft, Okta, telecom firm Vodafone, and e-commerce large Mercado.
In lots of instances, the extortion group additionally leaked closed supply code and proprietary knowledge stolen from their victims, resulting in large knowledge leaks.
Most Lapsus$ members are believed to be youngsters pushed not by monetary motivation however primarily by their objective of creating a reputation on the hacking scene.
The FBI can be trying into Lapsus$’s unlawful actions and looking for information regarding these group members who had been concerned within the compromise of pc networks belonging to US-based firms.
“These unidentified people took credit score for each the theft and dissemination of proprietary knowledge that they declare to have illegally obtained,” the US legislation enforcement company says. “The FBI is looking for data relating to the identities of the people liable for these cyber intrusions.”
Though it is nonetheless unclear what number of lively members the gang nonetheless has, it’s believed that Lapsus$ has associates worldwide and, primarily based on Telegram chats seemingly suggesting, they converse a number of languages, together with English, Russian, Turkish, German, and Portuguese.