Hackers related to “Scattered Spider” ways have expanded their focusing on to the aviation and transportation industries after beforehand attacking insurance coverage and retail sectors
These menace actors have employed a sector-by-sector strategy, initially focusing on retail corporations, akin to M&S and Co-op, in the UK and the United States and subsequently shifting their focus to insurance coverage corporations.
Whereas the menace actors weren’t formally named as liable for insurance coverage sector assaults at first, latest incidents have impacted Aflac, Erie Insurance coverage, and Philadelphia Insurance coverage Firms.
Hackers goal the aviation trade
On June 12, Canada’s second-largest airline, WestJet, suffered a cyberattack that briefly disrupted the corporate’s inner companies and cell app.
Quickly after the breach, sources instructed BleepingComputer that Palo Alto Networks and Microsoft have been aiding within the response to the assault.
The assault was attributed to Scattered Spider, who allegedly compromised the corporate’s knowledge facilities and its Microsoft Cloud atmosphere.
BleepingComputer was knowledgeable that the menace actor gained entry by performing a self-service password reset for an worker, which enabled them to register their very own MFA and procure distant entry to the community by way of Citrix.
Whereas different menace actors conduct identification assaults, Scattered Spider has grow to be related to this tactic on account of their common focusing on of assist desks and password and MFA infrastructure.
Right this moment, Hawaiian Airways additionally disclosed that they suffered a cyberattack however didn’t present any particulars that might point out who was behind the assault. Nonetheless, a supply instructed BleepingComputer that it’s believed that the identical menace actors are accountable.
Palo Alto Networks’ Sam Rubin, SVP of Consulting and Risk Intelligence, has now confirmed on LinkedIn that Scattered Spider has begun focusing on the aviation trade.
“Unit 42 has noticed Muddled Libra (also called Scattered Spider) focusing on the aviation trade,” warned Rubin.
“Organizations ought to be on excessive alert for classy and focused social engineering assaults and suspicious MFA reset requests.”
Mandiant’s Charles Carmakal additionally warned that the menace actors have now switched their focus to each the aviation and transportation sectors.
“ALERT: Scattered Spider has added North American airline and transportation organizations to their goal record,” Carmakal posted to LinkedIn.
“Mandiant (a part of Google Cloud) is conscious of a number of incidents within the airline and transportation sector which resemble the operations of UNC3944 or Scattered Spider.
“We advocate that the trade instantly take steps to tighten up their assist desk identification verification processes previous to including new telephone numbers to worker/contractor accounts (which can be utilized by the menace actor to carry out self-service password resets), reset passwords, add gadgets to MFA options, or present worker data (e.g. worker IDs) that could possibly be used for a subsequent social engineering assaults.”
American Airways can also be at the moment struggling an IT outage however it’s unclear if it’s a safety incident. BleepingComputer contacted the airline however has not obtained a response.
What’s Scattered Spider
Scattered Spider, also called 0ktapus, Starfraud, UNC3944, Scatter Swine, Octo Tempest, and Muddled Libra, is a classification of menace actors which might be adept at utilizing social engineering assaults, phishing, multi-factor authentication (MFA) bombing (focused MFA fatigue), and SIM swapping to achieve preliminary community entry on massive organizations.
These menace actors embrace younger English-speaking individuals with numerous ability units who frequent the identical hacker boards, Telegram channels, and Discord servers. These mediums are then used to plan and execute assaults in actual time.
Some are believed to be a part of the “Com” – a loose-knit group of menace actors identified for monetary fraud, cryptocurrency theft, knowledge breaches, and extortion assaults.
Whereas Scattered Spider is often known as a cohesive gang, it’s really used to indicate menace actors who make the most of particular ways when conducting assaults. As assaults related to Scattered Spider ways are additionally generally utilized by completely different people from a unfastened community of menace actors, it makes it troublesome to trace them.
Not like many different English-speaking menace actors, these related to “Scattered Spider” have been identified to associate with Russian-speaking ransomware gangs, akin to BlackCat, RansomHub, Qilin, and DragonForce.
Different assaults linked to Scattered Spider embrace these on MGM, Marks & Spencer, Co-op, Twilio, Coinbase, DoorDash, Caesars, MailChimp, Riot Video games, and Reddit.
Organizations defending in opposition to this sort of menace actor ought to begin with gaining full visibility throughout all the infrastructure, identification programs, and significant administration companies.
This contains securing self-service password reset platforms and assist desks, frequent targets of those menace actors.
Each Google Risk Intelligence Group (GTIG) and Palo Alto Networks have launched guides on hardening defenses in opposition to the identified “Scattered Spider” ways utilized by these menace actors.
All admins are suggested to familiarize themselves with the following pointers and harden their identification platforms and processes.
Replace 6/27/25: Added that American Airways is at the moment affected by an IT outage.
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