kawa4096 is a recently emerged ransomware group first observed in June 2025, operating with apparent financial motivations based on their targeting patterns across multiple high-value sectors. The group has been documented attacking victims primarily in the United States, Japan, and Germany, with a focus on healthcare, financial services, and public sector organizations, suggesting a strategic approach to maximize potential ransom payments. With 17 known victims identified since their emergence, kawa4096 appears to be a relatively small but active operation, though limited public documentation from major security firms and law enforcement agencies means specific details about their attack methodology, infrastructure, and organizational structure remain largely unknown. The group's targeting of critical sectors including healthcare and government entities indicates they may employ double extortion tactics common among modern ransomware operators, though their specific technical capabilities and initial access methods have not been publicly detailed by established threat intelligence sources. Given the recent timeline of their observed activity beginning in mid-2025, kawa4096 appears to be currently active, though the limited intelligence available suggests they may be either a new independent operation or a smaller affiliate group that has not yet attracted significant law enforcement attention or detailed analysis from major cybersecurity researchers. The group has been linked to 17 public disclosures across our corpus. First observed on a leak site on June 27, 2025; most recent post July 29, 2025. The operation is currently inactive.
Sector and geography
This disclosure adds to ransomware activity in the Not Found sector, which has 4,859 disclosures indexed across all operators we track. Geographically, **********-*******.co.jp is reported in Japan, a country with 108 ransomware disclosures in our corpus.
How we know this. Darkfield monitors public ransomware leak sites continuously, archiving every new disclosure and the data later released against the victim. Each entry on this page is sourced from the operator's own publication and cross-checked against complementary OSINT feeds (RansomLook, ransomware.live, RansomWatch). We do not collect or host stolen data — only the metadata, timestamps and screenshots needed to make the public disclosure searchable and accountable. Records here are corrected when the original post is edited, retracted, or merged with another disclosure.
