Three former employees, Kevin Tyler Martin and Ryan Clifford Goldberg, have been indicted for allegedly hacking into the networks of five U.S. companies in BlackCat ransomware attacks between May 2023 and November 2023. The defendants face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
Martin, a 28-year-old from Texas, was working as a ransomware threat negotiator at DigitalMint when he allegedly operated as an ALPHV BlackCat affiliate. Goldberg, a 33-year-old former Sygnia incident response manager, is currently in federal custody.
According to the indictment, the group gained unauthorized access to victims’ networks, stole data, and demanded cryptocurrency payments in exchange for decryption keys and promises not to leak the stolen information online. The alleged victims include companies from California, Virginia, Maryland, and Georgia.
Prosecutors say the attackers demanded ransoms ranging from $300,000 to $10 million. One victim paid $1.27 million after their servers were encrypted. It is unclear if additional payments were made.
This case comes as part of a larger investigation into DigitalMint’s alleged ties to ransomware gangs. The Department of Justice was previously investigating a former employee for working with extortion payment deals.
Source: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/us-cybersecurity-experts-indicted-for-blackcat-ransomware-attacks