back to article UK cops arrest teen suspect in MGM Resorts cyberattack probe

Cops in the UK have arrested a suspected member of the notorious Scattered Spider crime gang, which is accused of crippling MGM Resorts in Las Vegas with ransomware last summer. West Midlands police - along with officials from Britain's National Crime Agency and the FBI - cuffed the 17-year-old, of Walsall, England, on …

  1. David 132 Silver badge

    Good.

    But what's the betting that his defence will turn out to be some (claimed) variant on autism/Asperger's? Seems to be the universal fall-on-the-sympathy-of-the-jury defence for computer crime cases.

    And before you all pile on me - autism and Aspergers are very real, and many people are afflicted by them, yes. But I'm getting a little tired of it being the first thing a criminal defence lawyer tries; mainly because it stigmatises all genuine sufferers ("oh, you're one of those criminal computer hacker types").

    1. Yorick Hunt Silver badge

      Re: Good.

      Why not? It seems senility is a plausible defence.

      1. sanmigueelbeer

        Re: Good.

        A plea of "insanity" or "senility" will not wash if front a mob enforcer.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Good.

          Yup. There's always someone with, "Hey, I've got an idea: The Mob is stinkin' rich, so let's rip them off! What could possibly go wrong?"

          The should-be-obvious answer is, "The Mob might find you before the police do."

  2. katrinab Silver badge
    Meh

    I thought this attack was supposed to be carriedied out by a state-sponsored actor, not a teenager?

    But, as I've always said, the fact that it was successful is definitive proof that it wasn't a government IT project.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      I'd invoke raging teenage hormones and the resulting overwhelming drive to eek out every possible mating advantage for oneself as manifested here by illicit wealth aquisition through cybercriminality. The competitive landscape of animalistic reproduction is quite challenging for today's youth it seems, but those "young adults roughly in the 19-22 age range and located across the US and UK" (linked "Spanish Police" article) do not quite smell like state-sponsored spirit IMHO -- ;)

    2. lglethal Silver badge
      Go

      Scattered Spider was never claimed to be a state sponsored group if I remember correctly. And it was always linked to western crims. Whatever they didnt, didnt carry the whiff of russian or chinese crims, but english speaking ones...

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The ransomware infection at MGM

    Phishing + exploiting known vulnerabilities in Windows OS.

    1. Version 1.0 Silver badge
      Pirate

      Re: The ransomware infection at MGM

      Vulnerabilities in Windows generate widespread income, both via malware creators and new versions of Windows too - that's just the world these days.

      If they have found a teenager maintaining cyberattacks and you are having cyberattack problems then give him a job! He could probably prevent all cyber access to your environment because he's been working in that world, while the rest of your local workers have only been installing apps thinking that they are going to keep everything working - but we've just seen that doesn't always happen.

      1. Alan Brown Silver badge

        Re: The ransomware infection at MGM

        "If they have found a teenager maintaining cyberattacks and you are having cyberattack problems then give him a job!"

        I can think of three teenagers off the top of my head where this was tried and turned out to be a serious mistake

        Unfortunately, unless they stop by themselves at 14-15 they're not going to stop unless forced to

  4. Snowy Silver badge
    Megaphone

    September!!

    That is autumn not summer!!

    1. MatthewSt Silver badge

      Re: September!!

      It's always summer in Vegas

    2. tip pc Silver badge

      Re: September!!

      astronomical summer lasts till September 22

      https://www.britannica.com/story/when-does-summer-start#:~:text=Many%20climate%20scientists%20define%20the,three%20months%2C%20until%20September%201.

  5. Jason Hindle Silver badge

    Usual advice applies

    Underpants on the head, pencil up nose and scream "Aspergers". I disagree with having an extradition treaty with a country whose justice system is incompatible with ours. Happy to lock him up over here - might be worse the way things are going.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Kids today, eh!

    In my day we were satisfied with knocking off stick books from the local newsagents.

  7. Anonymous Anti-ANC South African Coward Silver badge
    Coat

    Having read Michelle Slatalla's excellent "The Gang that ruled Cyberspace" a while ago, I'm wondering just what the original members of MoD would say when they hear of what kids are doing these days...

    Link to the Wiki : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masters_of_Deception

    icon : off to find the Guardian of Forever, and go back into time to a much simpler 1970's...

    ...and yes, I will find Sir Clive and help him make the Speccy the dominating home computer, muhuhahaha

  8. tiggity Silver badge

    I reckon it is Fatima

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/oct/12/ballet-dancer-could-reskill-with-job-in-cyber-security-suggests-uk-government-ad

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