Brazil’s Federal Police Announce Arrest of Notorious Hacker USDoD

[USDoD Arrest]

In this blog series we spotlight one of the stories from our cybersecurity newsletter, Beacon.

Brazil’s Federal Police announced the arrest of a hacker whose description matches that of the notorious figure known as USDoD.

Also known as EquationCorp, USDoD has leaked substantial information stolen from major organizations, targeting entities such as the FBI’s InfraGard portal, Airbus, TransUnion, National Public Data (NPD), and CrowdStrike.

In some cases, like with CrowdStrike, the hacker made exaggerated claims, but his leaks have generated significant media attention in recent years.

In August, independent investigators by CrowdStrike and others identified USDoD as a 33-year old man named Luan B.G. or Luan G, hailing from the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. USDoD later confirmed this identification, stating that he would not flee but instead negotiate with Brazilian authorities, offering his cybersecurity expertise.

While the Federal Police have not officially named the individual arrested, they confirmed the suspect was involved in hacking the FBI’s InfraGard portal, Airbus, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a breach also claimed by USDoD.

Authorities further disclosed that the suspect resides in Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais, and served a seizure and search warrant related to the sale of Federal Police data between 2020 and 2022. It remains unclear if the hacker is facing charges in the U.S. or other jurisdictions.

If you’d like the latest dark web news and insights delivered into your inbox every Thursday at 10am, sign up to the email version of Beacon.