Who the Heck Is SCATTERED SPIDER?
Also known as UNC3944, Octo Tempest, or Star Fraud (because one name just isn’t enough), SCATTERED SPIDER is a cybercrime collective made up of mostly young, native-English-speaking hackers from the US and UK. Think “script kiddies with ambition”—except they’ve been wrecking major enterprises since 2022.
These folks aren’t slinging fancy zero-day exploits. Nope—they’re masters of the dark art of human manipulation. Their top weapon? A phone call.
They impersonate CEOs, CFOs, and other Important-Looking Acronyms to sweet-talk help desks into resetting passwords and overriding MFA. Throw in some tools like Evilginx to phish around multi-factor authentication, and boom—they’re in your network faster than Karen can ask for the manager.
What Are They After?
SCATTERED SPIDER isn’t just in it for the LOLs—they’re after the digital keys to your kingdom:
- SSO portals (because one login to rule them all)
- Entra ID (formerly Azure AD, still confusing)
- Citrix & VMware (remote access playgrounds)
- Cloud systems (of course)
- MSPs (the buffet option—compromise one, feast on many)
Their favorite targets include:
- Retail (shopping spree!)
- Insurance (ironically uninsurable?)
- Finance, healthcare, tech, and now airlines (yes, even Qantas—CyberScoop spilled the beans)
Why Should You Care?
Since 2022, they’ve hit 100+ organizations, and in Q2 2025 alone, they’ve been dialing in like a bored teenager with a burner phone:
- Voice phishing (vishing): “Hi, I’m the CEO, can you reset my password?”
- MFA bypasses: Evilginx says hi.
- Help desks: If your support staff isn’t trained, congrats, you’re their entry point.
Real-World Break-In: The Printer That Tried to Hack the World
Let’s talk about a thrilling cyber heist starring… a network printer. Yep, that quiet little box in the corner that spits out your quarterly reports decided to moonlight as a hacker.
It all started when Digix Guard noticed something sketchy: a printer’s host service tried to RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) its way into a production Windows server—late at night, of course. Because apparently even rogue printers prefer to work after hours.
Here’s How the Intrigue Unfolded:
1. Initial Access Vector:
The host service account on the printer had been compromised, probably via good old social engineering. (Someone clicked the wrong link, didn’t they?) With legit credentials in hand, it started spinning up RDP sessions like it was applying for IT admin.
2. Lateral Movement Attempt:
This wasn’t a random “oops.” The attackers went full Ocean’s Eleven—targeting admin-level systems like they knew the floor plan.
3. Digix Guard Detection:
Thankfully, Digix Guard was wide awake. It’s trained to spot weird logins from service accounts that typically just nap all day. It flagged this late-night joyride immediately.
4. Rapid Containment:
We yanked that printer off the network faster than you can say “toner low,” wiped its config, reset credentials, and shredded its service certs. (Well, not literally—but we wish.)
5. Forensics & Hardening:
Digix Guard had the receipts: IP addresses, timestamps, login attempts—everything short of a confession. With that data, we retraced the entire attack path, patched the holes, and made sure this printer never rebels again.
Actionable Takeaways
- Treat help desk calls with suspicion
Scripted impersonation of executives is SCATTERED SPIDER’s bread-and-butter. Include secret passphrases or callback verification in your process (falconfeeds.io+15CrowdStrike+15Reuters+15). - Segment and monitor infrastructure components
Issue separate creds for network printers, implement strict firewall rules, and log everything. Make service host login attempts invisible from user-facing interfaces. - Hunt for domain spoofing
Monitor DNS/TLS for subdomains like vpn.company.com or typosquats (e.g., c0mpany-sso[.]com) (ReliaQuest). - Automate scans & block fast domain churn
Domains used by SCATTERED SPIDER often expire in a week. Automate detection systems to flag and block such churn (ReliaQuest). - Lock down MFA policy
Disable MFA resets by phone/email. Require multi-channel approvers. And yes—train your staff to ask tough questions. - Log & alert RDP attempts from odd services
Our detection of that rogue printer login was possible because we logged service to user login attempts across infrastructure.
TL;DR
Yes—your organization is on their radar. If you’re using cloud based SSO, VMware, Citrix, or networked services—and trusting help desk calls—the danger is real.
These scam artists don’t “hack in.” They log in, using voices, stories, and stolen trust. But there are counter-measures: tighten verification, lock down service endpoints, watch DNS churn, train your teams—and never underestimate what a network printer can do.
Got gaps? Need help shoring up controls or hunting for intrusions like rogue RDP logins via printers or other hosts? We’ve got your back—reach out.
