A member of a notorious cybercrime gang known as Scattered Spider was sentenced on Wednesday to ten years in prison in connection with a string of major hacks and cryptocurrency thefts.
US District Judge Harvey Schlesinger delivered the sentence to Noah Urban in federal court in Jacksonville, Florida. Urban was the first member of Scattered Spider to be sentenced.
Urban’s lawyer, Kathryn Sheldon, said her defendant made “some very poor decisions as a teenager,” and that he was taught by older co-conspirators. The court heard impact statements from various people affected by the hacks including a retired firefighter, a victim who claimed to have lost their IVF fertility funds and others who described losing retirement funds or struggling financially as a result of Urban’s theft.
“This was kind of like a game for them, they were working together, conspiring together to get access to these systems,” Sheldon said.
Urban, 20, had pleaded guilty to charges related to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft targeting 29 cryptocurrency victims and 13 companies earlier this year.
He was arrested in central Florida while a teenager in January 2024.
Scattered Spider is a loose collective of mostly young males believed to be based in the US, UK and Western Europe, according to cybersecurity researchers. Multiple arrests have been made in connection to the group, including four in the UK in July, on suspicion of attacking British retail giants Marks & Spencer, Co-op and Harrods. They have since been released awaiting charges.
They rose to prominence after ransomware attacks on major Las Vegas casinos Caesars Entertainment and MGM Resorts International in 2023 and is known for hard-hitting hacks on numerous companies before going quiet after law enforcement intervention. Its activity picked back up again earlier this year, starting with a ransomware attack on the retail, insurance and aviation sectors, according to cybersecurity researchers and law enforcement officials.
The Department of Homeland Security in July released an advisory warning that Scattered Spider used an array of tactics against victim organizations.
From Insurance Journal:
- Weeks Later, Erie and Philadelphia Insurance Still Working to Restore Networks
- Insurance Sector Should Be on the Lookout for ‘Scattered Spider’ Hackers
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