According to a new report, researchers investigating a series of recent hacks against technology companies such as Microsoft Corp. and Nvidia Corp. have linked the attacks to a 16-year-old living at his mother's house near Oxford, England.

Four researchers investigating the hacking group Lapsus$, on behalf of companies that were attacked, said they believe the teenager is the mastermind.

In addition to the seven accounts linked to the hacking group, which also includes a Brazilian teen, the researchers believe the teenager from England is the mastermind and is responsible for several significant Lapsus$ hacks.

Lapsus$'s spree of high-profile hacks has baffled cybersecurity experts. The group's motives are still unknown, but some cybersecurity experts believe they are motivated by money and publicity.

Researchers believe the teen is responsible for some of Lapsus$'s most significant hacks, but they haven't been able to definitively link him to all of them. Researchers were able to link the teenager to the hacker collaborative by examining forensic evidence from the hack and publicly available data.

The article isn’t naming the alleged hacker, who goes by the online alias “White” and “breachbase,” who is a minor and hasn’t been publicly accused by law enforcement of any wrongdoing.

According to another individual involved in the research, the teen was so smart, intelligent and fast at hacking that the researchers initially thought the activity they were observing was automated.

Lapsus$ has publicly mocked its victims by leaking source code and internal documents. When Lapsus$ revealed that it had breached Okta Inc., the company experienced a public-relations crisis. Okta disclosed in a series of blog posts that a third-party vendor's engineer had been compromised and that 2.5 percent of its customers may have been affected.

According to three people who responded to the hacks, Lapsus$ has even joined Zoom calls of companies they have breached, taunting employees and consultants who are attempting to clean up their hack.

Microsoft said in a blog post that Lapsus$ has launched a “large-scale social engineering and extortion campaign against multiple organizations.” The group's main strategy is to hack companies, steal data, and hold it for ransom. "DEV-0537," according to Microsoft, has successfully recruited insiders from victimized companies to assist in hacking.

According to two researchers, the group lacks operational security, allowing cybersecurity firms to learn about teenagers.