Ex Cybersecurity Pros Jailed for $1.2m BlackCat Ransomware Scheme

Two US cybersecurity professionals, Ryan Goldberg and Kevin Martin, were sentenced to four years in prison for their roles in supporting ransomware attacks, with a third accomplice, Angelo Martino, awaiting sentencing in July. According to DoJ, the three men deployed ALPHV BlackCat ransomware against U.S. victims between April 2023 and December 2023, sharing 20% of ransoms with operators and extorting about $1.2 million in Bitcoin from at least one victim.

They had worked in the cybersecurity sector, including Goldberg as a former incident response manager at Sygnia and Martin as a ransomware threat negotiator for DigitalMint at the time of the alleged conspiracy. Court documents note that, from May to November 2023, the targets included five U.S. companies, with varied ransom demands, though only one paid.

The FBI stated that Goldberg fled to Paris when investigators raided a co-conspirator, and police tracked him through 10 countries, underscoring the reach of their illicit activity.