Former cybersecurity firm experts attempted to extort five U.S. companies in 2023 using BlackCat ransomware attacks

U.S. prosecutors charged three Florida men for using BlackCat ransomware to hack and extort five U.S. companies in 2023, with attacks spanning May to November that year.

The targets included a medical device company from which about $10 million was demanded and about $1.27 million paid in cryptocurrency, a Maryland-based pharmaceutical firm, a California doctor’s office seeking $5 million, a California engineering company asking for $1 million, and a Virginia drone manufacturer asking for $300,000, of which only the medical device firm paid.

One defendant, Ryan Clifford Goldberg, is described as a former incident response manager at Sygnia, while Kevin Tyler Martin was a ransomware threat negotiator for DigitalMint at the time; a third accomplice who was not indicted was also employed at DigitalMint. In October, the DOJ indicted Kevin Tyler Martin and another unnamed employee for hacking and extortion related to attacks on at least five U.S. companies, with the FBI affidavit noting that the trio began using the malware in May 2023. According to Federal prosecutors.