Two U.S. cybersecurity professionals plead guilty in BlackCat/Alphv ransomware case

Two U.S. cybersecurity professionals, Ryan Goldberg and Kevin Martin, pleaded guilty to charges tied to their roles in BlackCat/Alphv ransomware attacks that occurred in 2023. Court records show they and a co-conspirator deployed ALPHV BlackCat against U.S. victims from April to December 2023, sharing 20% of ransoms with operators and extorting about $1.2 million in Bitcoin from one victim.

In November, prosecutors charged Goldberg, Martin, and another Florida-based accomplice for using BlackCat to hack five U.S. companies in 2023. Between May and November 2023 the targets included a medical device company, a Maryland-based pharmaceutical firm, a California doctor’s office, a California engineering company, and a Virginia drone manufacturer, with only the medical device firm paying about $1.27 million.

Goldberg, a former incident response manager at Sygnia, and Martin, a ransomware threat negotiator for DigitalMint at the time, faced charges that could carry up to 50 years in federal prison, according to DoJ press release. ALPHV BlackCat is described as having hit over 1,000 victims worldwide using a ransomware-as-a-service model, with developers and affiliates sharing proceeds.