005.2: Lapsus$ PART DEUX | John Prieto Share Insights from the FRONT LINES

IntrusionsInDepth Podcast

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005.2: Lapsus$ PART DEUX | John Prieto Share Insights from the FRONT LINES

Lapsus$, Ransomware Crews and Cybersecurity’s Evolving Arms Race

Josh Stepp

Feb 07, 2025

Transcript

Episode Description:

Intrusions and Depth welcomes its first-ever guest, John Prieto, a cybersecurity professional with experience at CrowdStrike, Mandiant, USAA, and the U.S. Air Force. Together, they dissect the chaotic rise and fall of the Lapsus$ hacking group—a crew of teenagers who turned the cybersecurity world upside down with brazen attacks on tech giants like Microsoft, Nvidia, and Rockstar Games.

Josh and John explore how Lapsus$ used social engineering, MFA fatigue, and even taunted their victims on social media, all while making rookie mistakes that led to their downfall. They also dive into the murky world of ransomware crews, the evolution of financially motivated cybercrime, and the blurred lines between threat actor clustering and sanctions.

Main Topics Discussed:

Lapsus$: The Chaotic Rise & Brazen Attacks
- How a group of teenagers breached top corporations using unsophisticated yet highly effective tactics.
- Their public Telegram channel, taunts, and lack of operational security (OPSEC).
Incident Response & Attribution Challenges
- John shares behind-the-scenes insights from responding to Lapsus$ intrusions.
- How security firms track threat actors despite constantly changing tactics and naming conventions.
The Immature Yet Dangerous Nature of APT Teens
- Comparing Lapsus$ to professional ransomware gangs—why their unpredictability made them so dangerous.
- The business dynamics of Ransomware as a Service.
The Future of Cybercrime & Security Lessons
- The rising threat of hacktivist-style APT teens and their potential impact on infrastructure.

Call to Action:

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Links and Resources:

htt(p)s://www.youtube.com/watch?ab_channel=NextGenHacker101
https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/2023-08/CSRB_Lapsus%24_508c.pdf
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2022/03/22/dev-0537-criminal-actor-targeting-organizations-for-data-exfiltration-and-destruction/

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