It is part of a larger hacker collective made up of mostly young cybercriminals who use the name 'The Com' as a slang for their community. The gang's murky structure helped earn it the 'Scattered' nickname, as well as another industry moniker, 'Muddled Libra,' among researchers.įor example, the crew behind the casino job calls itself 'Star Fraud,' according to two analysts. 'What I encountered working on the ransomware stuff is basically nine out of 10 times the company did not want to cooperate,' the ex-official said.Ī third challenge has been the loose-knit nature of the group, which is made up of small clusters of individuals who collaborate on-and-off on specific jobs. This instinct to hide an intrusion isn't unusual, an ex-FBI official who requested anonymity and previously worked on ransomware investigations told Reuters. One of the sources, an executive involved with defending against the hackers, who declined to be named citing client confidentiality, said 'several' victim companies never informed the bureau they were compromised – meaning prosecutors lost the chance to acquire potentially important evidence. 'They just don't have enough people.'Īnother challenge has been the hesitancy of many victims to cooperate with the FBI. 'Law enforcement, certainly at the federal level, has all the tools and resources they need to be successful in going after cyber criminals,' Foster said. Over the last several years, numerous press reports have suggested the bureau is losing many of its best cyber agents to the private sector, who offer them higher salaries.

ZeroFox's Chief Executive James Foster attributed law enforcement's sluggish response to a lack of manpower. In total, roughly 230 organizations have been hit since the beginning of last year, according to a tally by the Baltimore, Maryland-based cybersecurity firm ZeroFox, which has helped Caesars contain the fallout.

Security analysts tracking the breaches, meanwhile, have found a range of victims across nearly every industry – starting with telecoms and outsourcing firms to healthcare and financial service companies. FBI officials first began looking at the hackers' operations more than a year ago. The sources say that, following the September casino hacks, the FBI's investigation took on new urgency. Some have been collecting evidence leading to the hackers' identities and are assisting law enforcement, according to the five insiders. Neither company responded to a request for comment.ĬrowdStrike, Alphabet's Mandiant, Palo Alto Networks, and Microsoft are among the main American cybersecurity firms responding to private company breaches by the hackers.

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