An alleged member of a hacking group was caught, thanks to one hated Windows feature

3 weeks ago 4

Rommie Analytics

Windows GDID (Global Device Identifier), its own telemetry service, has drawn ire from users for some time. Turns out the data it tracks can be used by law enforcement to incriminate alleged hackers, which is both a decent outcome and sort of worrisome if you think about it too much.

As noted by TechSpot, the US Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs recently announced the arrest of 19-year-old Peter Stokes. Linked to the hacking group Scattered Spider, who are reportedly responsible for 100 network intrusions and over $100 million in ransom payments, the thing that reportedly incriminated him was his Windows GDID.

Back in May last year, Scattered Spider reportedly called the IT helpdesk of a jewellery seller posing as employees and managed to talk them into handing over password reset details. This then gave the group access to three accounts, for which Scattered Spider asked for $8 million in ransom mon...

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