PF arrests Brazilian suspected of being part of the Lapsus$ hacker group

The Federal Police said that this Wednesday (19), in Feira de Santana (BA), a Brazilian suspected of being part of the international hacker group Lapsus$ was arrested. The PF did not give further details about the arrest.

In December 2021, the criminal organization claimed responsibility for the attack that brought down the Ministry of Health’s ConectSUS platform.

In addition to this attack, the Ministry of Economy, the Comptroller General of the Union and the Federal Highway Police were also targeted by Lapsus$, according to the organization.

The arrest is a result of Operation Dark Cloud, launched in August of this year, which aimed to investigate the activity of a possible criminal organization formed with the aim of promoting cyber attacks.

According to the government, investigations began in December. At the time, the SUS platform invaders deleted files and took down the website Conectus.saude.gov.br, responsible for the National Vaccination Certificate.

After the attack, when trying to access the site, users found a message stating that the data was in the hands of the invading group.

Lapsus$ Group is also responsible for breaking into systems at Correios, Localiza, and several others in South America, the United States and Europe.

Without using sophisticated programming, but showing technical knowledge and creativity to circumvent defenses, they have among their victims large technology companies, such as Microsoft, Samsung and Nvidia, in addition to Brazilian government agencies. They even took on the attack against the Americans, although they later deleted the posts.

The crimes determined in the investigation are those of criminal organization, invasion of a computer device, interruption or disruption of telegraph, radiotelegraph or telephone service. According to the PF, the practice of corruption of minors and money laundering was also found.