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Darkfield

Operator dossier

cryptowall is a ransomware operator no longer publishing new disclosures. Darkfield has indexed 4 public victims claimed by this operator between June 5, 2014 and February 26, 2016. CryptoWall was a financially-motivated ransomware operation that emerged in June 2014 and became one of the most prolific ransomware families of its era, generating millions in ransom payments before largely disappearing from the threat landscape. The group operated independently rather than as a RaaS model and was suspected to have origins in Eastern Europe, though definitive attribution remains unclear. CryptoWall primarily gained initial access through exploit kits, malicious email attachments, and drive-by downloads, employing strong RSA encryption to lock victims' files while implementing data exfiltration capabilities in later versions to pressure victims into payment. The ransomware evolved through multiple versions (CryptoWall 1.0 through 4.0), with each iteration becoming more sophisticated in its evasion techniques and encryption methods, targeting critical infrastructure sectors including government facilities, emergency services, and healthcare organizations primarily in the United States. CryptoWall was responsible for infecting hundreds of thousands of systems worldwide and extorting an estimated $18 million from victims according to FBI reports, with law enforcement agencies issuing multiple advisories about the threat throughout 2014-2016. The group's activity significantly declined by 2017 and they are now considered defunct, likely displaced by more modern ransomware operations.

Most-targeted sectors

Most-affected countries

Recent disclosures by cryptowall

All 4 indexed disclosures. Click any row for the full per-victim dossier.

See every disclosure indexed for cryptowall →

How we know this. Operator profiles on Darkfield are built from continuous monitoring of every leak site the group is known to operate, cross-correlated with community-curated feeds (RansomLook, ransomware.live, RansomWatch, MISP-galaxy). Status flips from active to inactive when no new disclosure appears for 60 days. MITRE ATT&CK mappings shown in the interactive section below are sourced from CISA, vendor analysis, and the MITRE community catalog — we attribute each technique back to its source. Aliases reflect operator re-brands and affiliate splits.

Inactive ransomware operator

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cryptowall

4 victims indexed · first seen 12 years ago · last activity 10 years ago

4
Victims indexed
#267 of 364 tracked operators
1y 8m
Active period
Jun 2014 → Feb 2016
1
Countries hit
top US · 4

At a glance

Status
inactive
First seen
12 years ago
Last activity
10 years ago
Primary sector
Government Facilities · 2 hits

About

CryptoWall was a financially-motivated ransomware operation that emerged in June 2014 and became one of the most prolific ransomware families of its era, generating millions in ransom payments before largely disappearing from the threat landscape. The group operated independently rather than as a RaaS model and was suspected to have origins in Eastern Europe, though definitive attribution remains unclear. CryptoWall primarily gained initial access through exploit kits, malicious email attachments, and drive-by downloads, employing strong RSA encryption to lock victims' files while implementing data exfiltration capabilities in later versions to pressure victims into payment. The ransomware evolved through multiple versions (CryptoWall 1.0 through 4.0), with each iteration becoming more sophisticated in its evasion techniques and encryption methods, targeting critical infrastructure sectors including government facilities, emergency services, and healthcare organizations primarily in the United States. CryptoWall was responsible for infecting hundreds of thousands of systems worldwide and extorting an estimated $18 million from victims according to FBI reports, with law enforcement agencies issuing multiple advisories about the threat throughout 2014-2016. The group's activity significantly declined by 2017 and they are now considered defunct, likely displaced by more modern ransomware operations.

Timeline

4 months
2014-06-01T00:00:00+00:00 · 12014-10-01T00:00:00+00:00 · 12015-09-01T00:00:00+00:00 · 12016-02-01T00:00:00+00:00 · 1
2014-06-01T00:00:00+00:002016-02-01T00:00:00+00:00

Top countries

🇺🇸 United States
4
United States dossier →

Top sectors

Government Facilities
2
Emergency Services
1
Healthcare and Public Health
1
Government Facilities dossier →Emergency Services dossier →Healthcare and Public Health dossier →

MITRE ATT&CK

5 techniques · 4 tactics

Tactics

Initial AccessExecutionDefense EvasionImpact

Techniques

Recent victims

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Source

Updated 10 years ago

Data on this page is sourced from the group's own leak posts, cross-checked with public ransomware trackers (RansomLook, ransomware.live, RansomWatch), MITRE ATT&CK, and our own Tor and Telegram crawlers. This is a public observatory page — share freely.

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