U.S. prosecutors linked an alleged Scattered Spider hacker to a break-in at a luxury jewelry retailer using a persistent Windows device ID, according to a newly unsealed federal complaint.
Microsoft records tied that ID first to the account the attackers used to keep access during the May 2025 intrusion, then to online accounts prosecutors say belong to 19-year-old Peter Stokes.
Stokes is charged with conspiracy, computer intrusion, and fraud. A dual U.S.-Estonian citizen known online as "Bouquet," he was extradited from Finland and made his first court appearance in Chicago on June 30, as THN reported. He is presumed innocent pending trial.
How the break-in worked
Between May 12 and 15, 2025, attackers phoned the retailer's IT help desk from Google Voice numbers, posed as locked-out employees, and got staff to reset employees' passwords and the mobile devices tied to their multifactor authentication.
