Hacking collective Scattered Spider, also known as UNC3944, was observed by the Google Threat Intelligence Group to have redirected new attacks toward several insurance firms across the U.S. after initially compromising UK and U.S.-based retailers, CyberScoop reports.
"Google Threat Intelligence Group is now aware of multiple intrusions in the U.S. which bear all the hallmarks of Scattered Spider activity... Given this actor's history of focusing on a sector at a time, the insurance industry should be on high alert, especially for social engineering schemes which target their help desks and call centers," said GTIG Chief Analyst John Hultquist. Such intrusions by Scattered Spider which were noted by Mandiant Consulting Chief Technology Officer Charles Carmakal to have commenced over a week ago come after Pennsylvania-based property and casualty insurer Erie Insurance disclosed experiencing outages following a cyberattack earlier this month. Additional details linking the attack to the hacking collective remain lacking amid ongoing investigation and systems recovery efforts.
"Google Threat Intelligence Group is now aware of multiple intrusions in the U.S. which bear all the hallmarks of Scattered Spider activity... Given this actor's history of focusing on a sector at a time, the insurance industry should be on high alert, especially for social engineering schemes which target their help desks and call centers," said GTIG Chief Analyst John Hultquist. Such intrusions by Scattered Spider which were noted by Mandiant Consulting Chief Technology Officer Charles Carmakal to have commenced over a week ago come after Pennsylvania-based property and casualty insurer Erie Insurance disclosed experiencing outages following a cyberattack earlier this month. Additional details linking the attack to the hacking collective remain lacking amid ongoing investigation and systems recovery efforts.
