Source: Gregg Vignal via Alamy Stock Photo

Today the Department of Justice (DoJ) unsealed criminal charges against five individuals who belong to the hacking group "Scattered Spider," which is the cybercriminal group known for recruiting young people and carrying out high-profile cyberattacks, including last year's offensives against MGM Resorts and Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.

The defendants allegedly targeted employees of companies across the United States via phishing messages, using the harvested employee credentials to log in to systems and steal private company data, including intellectual property, and personal identifying information, such as account credentials, names, email addresses, and telephone numbers. The indictment also says the group gained unauthorized access to individuals' cryptocurrency accounts and wallets, and stole millions of dollars of virtual currency.

Four of the defendants are American, ranging from 20 to 25 years old; the eldest, Joel Martin Evans, aka "joeleoli," of Jacksonville, N.C., made his first appearance in court yesterday after being arrested the day before by the FBI. All four of them are charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, one count of conspiracy, and one count of aggravated identity theft.

The fifth individual, Tyler Robert Buchanan, 22, is located in the United Kingdom and is facing charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft.

"These individuals, and other actors that they have collaborated with, have caused so much pain and financial harm to organizations across North America through their disruptive intrusions," Charles Carmakal, Mandiant Consulting CTO at Google Cloud, wrote in an emailed statement to Dark Reading. "We hope this sends a message to the other actors they collaborate with that they aren't immune to consequences."

If convicted, each of the defendants would face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, up to five years for conspiracy, and two years for aggravated identity theft. Buchanan would face an additional 20 years for the wire fraud count.