FBI urges ShinyHunters members to turn themselves in after arrest

The FBI has urged members of the ShinyHunters extortion group to turn themselves in after Dutch police arrested a man described by the bureau as one of the group’s alleged leaders.

Dutch police said the suspect is a 24-year-old man from Amsterdam, arrested on September 15. He is suspected of having a role in ShinyHunters and participating in a criminal organization. Police said information found on his laptop included details about two murders allegedly planned abroad, and that there were indications he had ordered them. The Rotterdam District Court ruled Tuesday that he will remain in pre-trial detention for at least 90 more days. Police said further arrests have not been ruled out.

The FBI says ShinyHunters and alleged co-conspirators have breached more than 140 organizations since last year and collected at least $70 million in extortion payments. The group has targeted corporate single sign-on accounts, third-party vendors and cloud software platforms, including Salesforce and Snowflake, to steal data and threaten to publish it.

In a video released Tuesday, FBI Cyber Division Assistant Director Brett Leatherman addressed members still at large. He said investigators were continuing to gather information and urged them to contact the FBI. Dutch police said the arrest was not part of the investigation into the ShinyHunters breach of telecom provider Odido.