Police make seven arrests following Lapsus$ attacks

Lapsus$ claimed responsibility for hacks on Microsoft and Okta

City of London Police say they have arrested seven people in relation to an investigation of the Lapsus$ hacking group which claimed responsibility for the recent cyber-attacks on Microsoft and Okta.

The ages of those arrested are between 16 and 21 and follow acknowledgement from both vendors that they had been breached by hackers.

A 16-year-old from Oxford is among those accused of being part of the group, the BBC reports, though police would not say whether he is one of those to have been arrested.

In a statement issued to news agency Reuters, detective inspector Michael O'Sullivan, said: "The City of London Police has been conducting an investigation with its partners into members of a hacking group."

"Seven people between the ages of 16 and 21 have been arrested in connection with this investigation and have all been released under investigation."

Lapsus$ has gained notoriety for hacks on big tech companies which also include Samsung and Nvidia.

Microsoft earlier this week confirmed that the group had gained "limited access" to an employee account and had stolen source code. Lapsus$ then posted a file which it claimed contains partial source code for Bing and Cortana.

The vendor insists that no customer code or data was involved in the leak.

Identity and access management firm Okta, meanwhile, believes approximately 2.5 per cent of its more than 15,000 clients could have been impacted by the attack, which took place in January, and said it had reached out to those who might have been affected.