Two UK teenagers charged with assisting the Lapsus$ hacking group have been released on bail after appearing in the Highbury Corner Magistrates Court court on Friday morning.
According to a statement from Detective Inspector Michael O’Sullivan of the City of London Police, a 16 year old and a 17 year old were charged following an international investigation into members of a hacking group.
“Both teenagers have been charged with: three counts of unauthorized access to a computer with intent to impair the reliability of data; one count of fraud by false representation and one count of unauthorized access to a computer with intent to hinder access to data,” O’Sullivan said in a statement to the press.
“The 16 year old has also been charged with one count of causing a computer to perform a function to secure unauthorized access to a program,” he added.
While the UK police detective didn’t name the gang the two suspects worked for, a report from BBC linked them to the Lapsus$ group on Monday and said they were released on bail.
As a result of international investigations into Lapsus$ by law enforcement agencies, seven people aged 16 to 21 believed to be connected to the gang were arrested by the City of London Police on March 24.
The Lapsus$ gang has been in the news recently due to its attacks on high-profile tech companies worldwide, including Microsoft, Nvidia, Samsung, Okta, and Ubisoft. Many of these attacks resulted in massive data leaks for the companies.
Despite the big names present on their list of victims, most Lapsus$ members are believed to be teenagers primarily driven by the goal of making a name in the hacking scene instead of by financial motivation.
The FBI is also looking into the group’s illegal activities and is seeking info regarding the Lapsus$ members involved in the compromise of computer networks belonging to multiple US-based companies.
“These unidentified individuals took credit for both the theft and dissemination of proprietary data that they claim to have illegally obtained,” the US law enforcement agency said on March 21. “The FBI is seeking information regarding the identities of the individuals responsible for these cyber intrusions.”