UK teen suspected of masterminding Microsoft, Nvidia and Ubisoft hacks | VGC

A UK teenager has been identified as the suspected mastermind behind a series of hacks against major technology companies.

Hacking group Lapsus$ is thought to be responsible for recent attacks on Nvidia [128 articles]”>Nvidia, Xbox Game Studios (Microsoft) [1,889 articles]”>Microsoft, Ubisoft [654 articles]”>Ubisoft, Samsung and Vodaphone.

According to Bloomberg, four cybersecurity researchers investigating the attacks believe at least some of them to have been carried out by a 16-year-old living at his mother’s house near Oxford, England.

His personal information, including his address, was reportedly posted online by rival hackers.

A Bloomberg reporter visited the address and spoke to the boy’s mother, who said she was unaware of the allegations against her son, who hasn’t been publicly accused by law enforcement of any wrongdoing.

Another Lapsus$ member is thought to be a teenager based in Brazil, and researchers are said to have identified seven unique accounts associated with the hacking group, suggesting there are more members at large.

Earlier this month, Lapsus$ claimed responsibility for a cyber attack on Nvidia, which may have included the theft of source code for the company’s DLSS technology.

Shortly after, the group claimed to be behind an attack on Samsung which saw a significant amount of data stolen, including algorithms for biometric tech the company uses across its products.

On March 10, Ubisoft announced it had suffered a cyber security incident too. And on Wednesday, Microsoft confirmed partial source code for Bing and Cortana had been stolen following an attack.

While it’s unclear what has motivated the hacks, researchers said they believe Lapsus$ is driven by money and notoriety.