Teen Suspected By Cyber Researchers of Being Lapsus$ Mastermind

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Cybersecurity researchers investigating a string of hacks against technology companies, including Microsoft and Nvidia, have traced the attacks to a 16-year-old living at his mother's house near Oxford, England. Four researchers investigating the hacking group Lapsus$, on behalf of companies that were attacked, said they believe the teenager is the mastermind. The teen is suspected by the researchers of being behind some of the major hacks carried out by Lapsus$, but they haven't been able to conclusively tie him to every hack Lapsus$ has claimed. The cyber researchers have used forensic evidence from the hacks as well as publicly available information to tie the teen to the hacking group. Bloomberg News isn't naming the alleged hacker, who goes by the online alias "White" and "breachbase," who is a minor and hasn't been publicly accused by law enforcement of any wrongdoing. Another member of Lapsus$ is suspected to be a teenager residing in Brazil, according to the investigators. One person investigating the group said security researchers have identified seven unique accounts associated with the hacking group, indicating that there are likely others involved in the group's operations. The teen is so skilled at hacking - and so fast-- that researchers initially thought the activity they were observing was automated, another person involved in the research said. [...] The teenage hacker in England has had his personal information, including his address and information about his parents, posted online by rival hackers. At an address listed in the leaked materials as the teen's home near Oxford, a woman who identified herself as the boy's mother talked with a Bloomberg reporter for about 10 minutes through a doorbell intercom system. The home is a modest terraced house on a quiet side street about five miles from Oxford University. The woman said she was unaware of the allegations against her son or the leaked materials. She said she was disturbed that videos and pictures of her home and the teen's father's home were included. The mother said the teenager lives at that address and had been harassed by others, but many of the other leaked details couldn't be confirmed. She declined to discuss her son in any way or make him available for an interview, and said the issue was a matter for law enforcement and that she was contacting the police.

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