Scattered Spider Hackers Plead Guilty on First Day of UK Trial
Two members of the notorious cybercrime group Scattered Spider plead guilty in a UK court on the first day of their trial. Thalha Jubair, 20, and 18-year-old Owen Flowers admit to conspiring to hack Transport for London, the agency responsible for the capital's public transit network. Their pleas bring an abrupt end to proceedings expected to last six weeks.
The scope of their criminal activity extends far beyond the London transit attack. Flowers also admits to participating in breaches of U.S. healthcare providers SSM Health Care Corporation and Sutter Health. U.S. prosecutors separately indict Jubair for his role in 120 network intrusions across 47 American entities, with victims paying at least $115 million in ransoms between May 2022 and September 2025. The group's targets include major retailers like Marks Spencer, Harrods, and Co-op Group, as well as Las Vegas casinos MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment.
Investigators reveal that Jubair co-administers a Telegram channel called Star Chat, which serves as a hub for SIM-swapping operations. The group uses voice and SMS phishing to steal employee credentials from major wireless providers, then redirects victims' phone numbers to attacker-controlled devices. This access allows them to intercept calls and authentication texts, defeating multi-factor authentication protections. The technique proves central to many of the group's most damaging intrusions.