THE article reports that the ShinyHunters cybercrime group has another member arrested, marking a further tightening of law enforcement pressure. Reuters said 16-year-old Saif al-Din Khader was detained in Jordan and is in FBI custody, following an earlier September arrest in the Netherlands of Pepijn van der Stap, a 24-year-old offensive security lead at Neo Security.
The FBI announced a message after the Dutch arrest implying more members would be caught, with Cyber Division Assistant Director Brett Leatherman indicating that detainees had begun cooperating. Khader, sometimes known as Rey, is described by security blogger Brian Krebs as the technical operator and public face of Scattered LAPSUS$ Hunters, an umbrella linked to Scattered Spider, LAPSUS$ and ShinyHunters.
Active since 2019, ShinyHunters have focused on data theft and extortion, often employing social engineering to gain access to victims’ accounts on third-party services, alongside exploiting software flaws. The group’s victims include Kodak, McKesson, and recently a rival group Clop, along with defacing its leak site.
The article notes an infamous series of intrusions, including a May FBI advisory and an attack on the FBI’s jobs site, which ShinyHunters claim was not financially motivated but a response to law enforcement warnings. It is alleged that the FBI breach exposed extensive information on agents, with data ranging from names and contact details to medical records and doctors’ notes. The piece also mentions the FBI’s removal of an Accenture contractor after a failure to apply a security patch tied to PeopleSoft.