Ransomware gang threatens release of ‘Top Secret’ documents from U.S. Marshals
A ransomware gang claims it hacked the U.S. Marshals Service and is threatening to release data that includes "Top Secret" documents.
In a recent post to its site on the dark web, the cybercrime group known as Hunters International added the law enforcement agency to its list of alleged victims, alongside a countdown timer set for roughly two days.
The posting, as viewed by the Daily Dot, claims that 386 GB of data, made up of 327,268 files, were obtained in the breach. Screenshots of the purported data suggest the leak includes dossiers on gang members and their mugshots, files marked "Confidential" and "Top Secret," as well as files from the FBI.
One such top secret document appears to be a report from the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Group. A document under the FBI label is listed as a white paper on Instagram from the National Domestic Communications Assistance Center, a hub containing collective technical knowledge and resources of law enforcement.
Other screenshots reference electronic surveillance, ongoing cases, and documents related to "Operation Turnbuckle," the name of a law enforcement effort that saw the takedown of alleged drug traffickers in 2022.
One such top-secret document appears to be a report from the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Group.
In comments to Gizmodo, which was first to report the alleged breach, a U.S. Marshals Service spokesperson said it was aware of the posting but had yet to confirm its authenticity.
The posting does not indicate that the criminal organization encrypted any files belonging to the U.S. Marshals Service, but instead, based on the countdown timer, is seeking a ransom from the government entity in order to not leak or sell the data.
The threatened data leak comes after the U.S. Marshals Service suffered a separate ransomware attack in February 2023. At current, it's unclear if the data taken during that breach is the source of the files now being listed by Hunters International.
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