A prolific hacking group run by teens

Contributors: Verge Staff

The Lapsus$ hacking group first made headlines when it waged a ransomware attack against the Brazilian Ministry of Health in December 2021, compromising the COVID-19 vaccination data of millions within the country.

Since then, it has targeted a number of high-profile technology companies, stealing data from Nvidia, Samsung, Microsoft, and Vodafone. Lapsus$ also managed to disrupt some of Ubisoft’s services and also gained access to an Okta contractor’s laptop, putting the data of thousands of companies that use the service at risk. It’s also suspected to be behind last year’s attack on EA Games.

Shortly after the attack on Okta, a report pinned an England-based teenager as the mastermind behind the hacking group and said another teen member may reside in Brazil. One member of the group is reportedly so skilled at hacking that researchers thought their work was automated. On March 24th, the London police made seven arrests in connection with the Lapsus$ group, all of whom are teenagers.

Here are all the latest updates on the Lapsus$ group.