Negotiating with Scattered Lapsu$ Hunters discouraged

Organizations compromised by the Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters hacking group have been warned by Unit 221B experts against negotiating with the threat operation, which could immediately escalate extortion attempts into victim harassment while not fulfilling promises to return stolen data, according to KrebsOnSecurity.

Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters has been willing to threaten victims with distributed denial-of-service intrusions, as well as physical violence against executives and their families, said Unit 221B Director of Research Allison Nixon.

"On days where [Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters] had no substantial criminal 'win' to announce, they focused on announcing death threats and harassment to keep law enforcement, journalists, and cybercrime industry professionals focused on this group," Nixon said. Nixon also noted internal conflict within Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters, which is part of The Com collective.

"They continually lose control with outbursts that put their strategy and operational security at risk, which severely limits their ability to build a professional, scalable, and sophisticated criminal organization network for continued successful ransoms unlike other, more tenured and professional criminal organizations focused on ransomware alone," added Nixon.