Cyber correspondent, BBC World Service
Getty PhotographsAn abusive e-mail despatched by the Marks & Spencer hackers to the retailer’s boss gloating in regards to the hack and demanding cost has been seen by the BBC.
The message to M&S CEO Stuart Machin – which was in damaged English – was despatched on the 23 April from the hacker group referred to as DragonForce utilizing the e-mail account of an worker.
The e-mail confirms for the primary time that M&S has been hacked by the ransomware group – one thing that M&S has to date refused to acknowledge.
“We have now marched the methods from China all the way in which to the UK and have mercilessly raped your organization and encrypted all of the servers,” the hackers wrote.
“The dragon needs to talk to you so please head over to [our darknet website].”
The extortion e-mail was proven to the BBC by a cyber safety skilled.
The blackmail message, which incorporates the n-word, was despatched to the M&S CEO and 7 different executives.
In addition to bragging about putting in ransomware throughout the M&S IT system to render it ineffective, the hackers say they’ve stolen the non-public information of thousands and thousands of consumers.
Almost three weeks later customers were informed by the corporate that their information could have been stolen.
The e-mail was despatched apparently utilizing the account of an worker from the Indian IT large Tata Consultancy Providers (TCS) – which has supplied IT companies to M&S for over a decade.
The Indian IT employee primarily based in London has an M&S e-mail tackle however is a paid TCS worker.
It seems as if he himself was hacked within the assault.
TCS has beforehand mentioned it is investigating whether or not it was the gateway for the cyber assault.
The corporate has advised the BBC that the e-mail was not despatched from its system and that it has nothing to do with the breach at M&S.
M&S has declined to remark solely.
‘We will each assist one another’
A darknet hyperlink shared within the extortion e-mail connects to a portal for DragonForce victims to start negotiating the ransom price. That is additional indication that the e-mail is genuine.
Sharing the hyperlink – the hackers wrote: “let’s get the social gathering began. Message us, we’ll make this quick and straightforward for us.”
The criminals additionally seem to have particulars in regards to the firm’s cyber insurance coverage coverage too saying “we all know we will each assist one another handsomely : ))”.
The M&S CEO has refused to say if the corporate has paid a ransom to the hackers.
DragonForce ended the e-mail with a picture of a dragon respiratory hearth.
The e-mail confirms for the primary time the hyperlink between M&S’s hack and the ongoing Co-op cyber attack, which DragonForce have additionally claimed duty for.
The 2 hacks – which started in late April – have wrought havoc on the 2 retailers. Some Co-op cabinets have been left naked for weeks, whereas M&S expects its operations to be disrupted till July.
Though we now know that DragonForce is behind each, it’s nonetheless not clear who the precise hackers are.
DragonForce provides cyber prison associates numerous companies on their darknet website in change for a 20% reduce of any ransoms collected.
Anybody can enroll and use their malicious software program to scramble a sufferer’s information or use their darknet web site for his or her public extortion.
Nothing has appeared on the prison’s darknet leak website about both Co-op or M&S however the hackers advised the BBC final week that they have been having IT issued of their very own and could be posting data “very quickly.”
Some researchers say DragonForce are primarily based in Malaysia, whereas others say Russia. Their e-mail to M&S implies that they’re from China.
Hypothesis has been mounting {that a} free collective of younger western hackers referred to as Scattered Spider is perhaps the associates behind the hacks and in addition one on Harrods.
Scattered Spider shouldn’t be actually a bunch within the regular sense of the phrase. It is extra of a group which organises throughout websites like Discord, Telegram and boards – therefore the outline “scattered” which was given to them by cyber safety researchers at CrowdStrike.
Some Scattered Spider hackers are identified to be youngsters within the US and UK.
The UK’s Nationwide Crime Company mentioned in a BBC documentary in regards to the retail hacks, that they’re focusing investigations on the group.
The BBC spoke to the Co-op hackers who declined to reply whether or not or not they have been Scattered Spider. “We cannot reply that query” is all they mentioned.
Two of them mentioned they needed to be referred to as “Raymond Reddington” and “Dembe Zuma” after characters from US crime thriller The Blacklist which includes a needed prison serving to police take down different criminals on a blacklist.
In a message to me, they boasted: “We’re placing UK retailers on the Blacklist.”
There have been a sequence of smaller cyber assaults on UK retailers since however none as impactful of disruptive as these on Co-op, M&S and Harrods.
DragonForce provides cyber prison associates numerous companies on their darknet website in change for a 20% reduce of any ransoms collected.
Anybody can enroll and use their malicious software program to scramble a sufferer’s information or use their darknet web site for his or her public extortion.
Nothing has appeared on the prison’s darknet leaksite about both Co-op or M&S however the hackers advised the BBC they have been having IT problems with their very own and could be posting data “very quickly.”
Some researchers say DragonForce are primarily based in Malaysia, whereas others say Russia. Their e-mail to M&S implies that they’re from China.
Within the early phases of the M&S hack, unknown sources advised cyber information website Bleeping Laptop that proof is pointing to Scattered Spider.
The UK’s national cyber-crime unit has confirmed to the BBC that the group is one among their key suspects.
As for the hackers I spoke to on Telegram, they declined to reply whether or not or not they have been Scattered Spider. “We cannot reply that query” is all they mentioned.
