UK officials confirmed Thursday that they arrested four individuals who allegedly committed a series of hacks earlier this year, targeting the UK retail sector, including Marks & Spencer, Harrods and the cooperative.
The National Crime Bureau said that 20-year-old men, 19-year-old, two 19-year-old men, and a 17-year-old young man, have been arrested at locations across the UK due to suspected of hacking, horrifying mail, money laundering and participating in organized crime groups.
The suspect was not named, but was taken into custody in connection with the hacking, the NCA said.
Starting in April, hackers broke into the cooperatives, began stealing customer data, and then began stealing Marks & Spencer. Both invasions are attributed to scattered spiders. Scattered spiders are attributed to a collection of hackers and techniques that use spoofing and deception tactics to trick call centers and company help desks to grant access to the network.
Hackers are said to have used access to allow a ransomware gang called DragonForce to deploy file encrypted malware on Marks & Spencer's network. The cooperative reportedly avoided ransomware by pulling down its own network before the hackers could activate the malware. Harrods also said he refused many of the cyberattacks.