A teen is reportedly the mastermind behind the Lapsus$ hacking group

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

The Lapsus$ hacking group has taken credit for accessing company data from several companies, and according to a new report, an England-based teenager might be the person heading up the operation.

Four researchers investigating the hacking group Lapsus$, on behalf of companies that were attacked, said they believe the teenager is the mastermind. The teenager, who uses the online names White and breachbase, has not been accused by law enforcement.

The teenager is based about five miles outside of Oxford University and was able to speak to his mother through the doorbell system. The teenager's mother told the publication that she did not know of any allegations against him.

The England-based teenager isn't the only one in Lapsus$. One of the seven unique accounts linked to the group is that of a teenager in Brazil. One person involved in research about the group said that one of the members is a capable hacker and that they thought the work was automated.

A core member of Lapsus$, who may have used the names Oklaqq and WhiteDoxbin, also purchased Dox. The entire Doxbin data set was leaked by a WhiteDoxbin individual who had to sell the site back to its previous owner.

The person may have been behind the data breach that took place last year. The name of the person may connect them to Krebs.

From Krebs:

Back in May 2021, WhiteDoxbin’s Telegram ID was used to create an account on a Telegram-based service for launching distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, where they introduced themself as “@breachbase.” News of EA’s hack last year was first posted to the cybercriminal underground by the user “Breachbase” on the English-language hacker community RaidForums, which was recently seized by the FBI.

The full picture of Lapsus$ is still murky, but I urge you to read both reports to learn more about what is going on.