Law enforcement pressure: real but limited impact: The letter explicitly acknowledged the mounting international pressure that supposedly drove their decision.”We want to share a thought for the eight people that have been raided or arrested in relations to these campaigns, Scattered Spider and/or ShinyHunters groups since beginning on April 2024 and thereafter 2025, and especially to the four who are now in custody in France,” the letter read.While these arrests represented genuine law enforcement successes, Singh provided crucial context about their actual impact on the groups’ operations. “Since April 2024 the FBI, the UK’s NCA, France’s DGSI and Spain’s PolicÃa Nacional arrested eight people linked to the syndicate,” Singh confirmed.However, the arrests hadn’t achieved their intended deterrent effect: “These arrests involved mostly low”‘ or mid”‘tier members such as cash”‘out mules, SIM”‘swappers, and chat administrators; the core developers, money”‘launderers and senior leaders remained at large. Thus law”‘enforcement damaged the gang’s public image but did not stop its operations,” Singh said.
Empty promises and concerning admissions: The letter’s content revealed perhaps the strongest evidence against its authenticity through what it failed to offer. While apologizing to victims, the groups explicitly refused to provide any meaningful assistance or remediation.”We will not try to help anyone anymore, directly or indirectly, to establish their innocence,” the letter said bluntly. This refusal to help with ongoing investigations or provide assistance to previous victims contradicts any genuine attempt at reform or accountability.Varkey identified these elements as particularly damaging to the letter’s credibility. “The intent was questionable since there was only a verbal apology statement to the victims, but no practical relief, explicit refusal to assist with past cases, no commitments on stolen data or ransomware, and no infrastructure or C2C takedown,” he explained.Far from expressing remorse, the letter bragged about recent high-profile attacks. “Whilst we were diverting you, the FBI, Mandiant, and a few others by paralyzing Jaguar factories, (superficially) hacking Google 4 times, blowing up Salesforce and CrowdStrike defences, the final parts of our contingency plans were being activated,” the groups wrote.
Expert consensus: tactical deception: Both experts pointed out that the announcement represented strategic misdirection rather than genuine retirement. “It seemed more like a smokescreen tactic, a deceptive move to evade law enforcement pressure, resolve internal issues, or facilitate rebranding rather than a genuine dissolution,” Varkey said.Singh focused on the broader implications of what appeared to be a coordinated disinformation campaign. “If the groups truly retired, the biggest threat was the spread of their advanced tactics,” he warned. “OAuth”‘token abuse, AI voice”‘cloning vishing, and leaked hyper”‘visor ransomware code were now cheap and widely available. New, quieter groups were likely to arise, some already poaching former staff or reusing the same wallet mixers.”
Organizations shouldn’t lower their guard: Given the expert consensus about the announcement’s deceptive nature, Singh recommended that organizations maintain maximum vigilance and assume continued threat activity. “Defenders should act as if their compromised accounts were still active: reset passwords, enforce FIDO2, and revoke legacy tokens,” he advised. “Help desks must train on deep”‘fake audio and challenge any urgent, unverified calls. ESXi hypervisors should be isolated, put into lockdown mode, and have SSH restricted to break”‘glass procedures.”Singh’s final assessment encapsulated the challenge facing cybersecurity professionals: “Overall, the ‘retirement’ was best seen as a brand sunset; the tactics, people, and laundering infrastructure still existed, so assuming security was dangerous.”
Organizations shouldn’t lower their guard: Given the expert consensus about the announcement’s deceptive nature, Singh recommended that organizations maintain maximum vigilance and assume continued threat activity. “Defenders should act as if their compromised accounts were still active: reset passwords, enforce FIDO2, and revoke legacy tokens,” he advised. “Help desks must train on deep”‘fake audio and challenge any urgent, unverified calls. ESXi hypervisors should be isolated, put into lockdown mode, and have SSH restricted to break”‘glass procedures.”Singh’s final assessment encapsulated the challenge facing cybersecurity professionals: “Overall, the ‘retirement’ was best seen as a brand sunset; the tactics, people, and laundering infrastructure still existed, so assuming security was dangerous.”
First seen on csoonline.com
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