BlackCat/ALPHV Security Incident

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Criminal hacking organization BlackCat/ALPHV Formation 2021 Type Hacking Parent organization FIN7 , DarkSide (hacker group) BlackCat, also known as ALPHV [ 1 ] and Noberus , [ 2 ] is a computer ransomware family written in Rust . It made its first appearance in November 2021. By extension, it is also the name of the threat actor(s) who exploited it. BlackCat operates on a ransomware as a service (RaaS) model, with developers offering the malware for use by affiliates and taking a percentage of ransom payments. For initial access, the ransomware relies essentially on stolen credentials obtained through initial access brokers . The group operated a public data leak site to pressure victims to pay ransom demands. The group targeted hundreds of organizations worldwide, including Reddit in 2023 and Change Healthcare in 2024. [ 3 ] Since its first appearance it was one of the most active ransomware operations. [ 4 ] As of February 2024, the U.S. Department of State was offering rewards of up to US$ 10 million for leads that could identify or locate ALPHV/BlackCat ransomware gang leaders. [ 5 ] In March 2024, a representative for BlackCat said that the group was shutting down in the aftermath of the 2024 Change Healthcare ransomware attack . [ 6 ] As of early 2025 it had apparently disappeared. [ 7 ] Description [ edit ] The group behind BlackCat utilizes mostly double extortion tactic but sometimes includes triple extortion which involves exposing exfiltrated data and threatening to launch distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on victims infrastructure. [ 8 ] BlackCat-affiliated threat actors typically request ransom payments of several million dollars in Bitcoin and Monero and have accepted ransom payments below the initial ransom demand amount. According to the FBI , many of the developers and money launderers for BlackCat/ALPHV are linked to DarkSide/Blackmatter , indicating they have extensive networks and experience...

... (truncated for display)