Google has confirmed that hackers created a fraudulent account in its Law Enforcement Request System (LERS) platform that law enforcement uses to submit official data requests to the company
"We have identified that a fraudulent account was created in our system for law enforcement requests and have disabled the account," Google told BleepingComputer.
"No requests were made with this fraudulent account, and no data was accessed."
The FBI declined to comment on the threat actor's claims.
This statement comes after a group of threat actors calling itself "Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters" claimed on Telegram to have gained access to both Google's LERS portal and the FBI's eCheck background check system.
The group posted screenshots of their alleged access shortly after announcing on Thursday that they were "going dark."
Screenshot shared by threat actors
The hackers' claims raised concerns as both LERS and the FBI's eCheck system are used by police and intelligence agencies worldwide to submit subpoenas, court orders, and emergency disclosure requests.
Unauthorized access could allow attackers to impersonate law enforcement and gain access to sensitive user data that should normally be protected.
The "Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters" group, which claims to consist of members linked to the Shiny Hunters, Scattered Spider, and Lapsus$ extortion groups, is behind widespread data theft attacks targeting Salesforce data this year.
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