Who is Scattered Spider - as hackers linked to M&S cyber attack, everything we know about the group with members as young as 16

The attack has forced the company to pause its online shopping services. Now reports are emerging claiming that a hacking group known as Scattered Spider was behind the attack.

The group is notorious in the online criminal world for targeting large companies and breaching their data. As a result of this attack, M&S has seen more than £700 million wiped off its stock market valuation since first facing problems.

According to America's Cyber Defense Agency, Scattered Spider is a cybercriminal group that targets large companies and their IT help desks. Scattered Spider members have typically engaged in data theft for extortion and have been known to use BlackCat/ALPHV ransomware.

Experts agree that ransomware was used in M&S's case. The group includes young members, some as young as 16, with a range of skills who frequent the same hacker forums, Telegram channels and Discord servers.

The group initially only dabbled in financial fraud and social media hacks but later advanced to stealing cryptocurrency and breaching corporations data in extortion attacks. Some members are believed to be part of a community called The Comm, a group involved in high-profile cyber incidents.

One of Scattered Spider's biggest alleged hacks involved the gaming giant MGM Resorts International, which operates over 30 hotel and gaming venues around the world. In September 2023, when guests reported difficulty accessing rooms and using casino games, MGM was alerted to a potential hack.

Scattered Spider is thought to have brought MGM systems to a halt after they gained access to the company's management system and were able deploy ransomware. The company revealed some customers personal data was stolen, including names, dates of birth and driving license numbers. In some cases, social security numbers and passport numbers were also involved.

In the wake of the incident, MGM reported total losses of around $100 million (around £75 million). In August that same year, Ceasars Entertainment also fell victim to a hack linked to Scattered Spider.

The data breach affected members of the Ceasars Reward's programme, impacting data related to 65 million people. Scattered Spider began making demands for ransom, which the company complied with, paying out $15 million (around £11 million) to the hackers.

The group is known to have used other techniques such as phishing, multi-factor authentication bypass techniques, and SIM swapping, to gain access to the data of large organisations. America's Cyber Defence Agency cites Scattered Spider as having previously:

• Posed as company staff using phone calls or text messages to obtain credentials from employees.
• Posed as IT staff to convince employees to share their credentials.
• Sent repeated notifications, prompting employees to press the “Accept” button.
• Convinced mobile network operators to transfer control of a user’s phone number to a SIM card they controlled, gaining control over the phone.
• Extorted victims for money using ransomware and data theft.