Cops in the UK say the arrest of two young hackers has disrupted the operations of a notorious hacking group

British police said on Thursday that the imprisonment of two hackers had “severely” hindered the activities of the notorious cybercrime group known as… Scattered spider.

Owen Flowers, 18, and Thala Jubeir, 20, pleaded guilty earlier this year to hacking into Transport for London (TfL), the government body that oversees the public transport system in the UK capital, in 2024. The two were sentenced to five years and six months in prison on Thursday.

The imprisonment of Flowers and Al-Jubeir is a reminder that, sometimes, the most dangerous and effective hackers do not work for sophisticated government agencies with multi-million dollar budgets. Often, They are very young and smart pirates Motivated by money and shame among their peers.

Groups like Scattered Spider, as well ShinyHuntersanother group of cybercriminals, often targets and exploits employees and individuals rather than computer systems, which is an effective and difficult strategy to counter.

While members of hacker groups tend to come and go, the groups themselves can change their brand. But British authorities are convinced that the imprisonment of Flowers and Al-Jubeir represents a major blow to Scattered Spider, an amorphous group that has been linked to dozens of high-profile attacks, such as those targeting the group. MGM Giant Casino, WestJet airlineand Cybersecurity company Okta. These attacks, in turn, gave hackers access to many of these companies’ customers.

Paul Foster, Head of the NCA’s National Cyber ​​Crime Unit, said: “The Scattered Spider has been the most significant cybercrime threat in the UK in recent years. Through this investigation, we have been able to severely disrupt this threat and bring the main perpetrators to justice.”

The two intruders were behind Cyber ​​attack against TfL In the summer of 2024, the system’s infrastructure, including the ticketing system and the real-time online train arrival information system, stopped working. Disturbances It lasted for weeks.

Flowers and cast They were arrested A year later. The FBI then accused Al-Jubeir of involvement in attacks on more than 120 companies using it Social engineering Tactics.

Authorities said the attack on TfL resulted in losses amounting to about 29 million pounds (about 47 million dollars). The hackers had such deep access to TfL’s systems that they “could have shut down TfL entirely”, holding the “keys to the kingdom” to the company’s systems. According to The Guardian newspaper.