Was Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects hit by ransomware?

Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects was listed by the Play ransomware operation as a victim being extorted; data had not been published at the time of listing. Darkfield tracks this disclosure with the original leak post, screenshot and group context.

Who is the Play ransomware group?

Play is a ransomware operator tracked by Darkfield. See the full operator dossier for its known victims, sectors targeted, IOCs and leak-site infrastructure.

Ransomware victim disclosure

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Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects

Claimed by Play · listed 14 days ago

14d

Age

since listed · listed for ransom

Status timeline

ListedSep 29, 2026

Current state: Listed for ransom

At a glance

Group: Play
Status: Listed for ransom
Sector: Architecture/Landscape Architecture
Listed on leak site: Sep 29, 2026

About the victim

AI dossier — public-source company profile

Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects is a landscape architecture firm. No further details are available from public sources.

Industry: Landscape Architecture

Attack summary

Severity: low — The victim is listed on the group's leak site but no proof files, data inventory, operational impact, or explicit claims of encryption or exfiltration are provided in the post. Listing alone, without substantiating evidence or details, indicates low severity.

The Play ransomware group lists Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects on its leak site with a publication date of 2026-10-01. No specific attack details, data exfiltration claims, or encryption confirmation are stated in the post.

low

The leak post

captured from the group's site

| Play ransomware HAS NEVER PROVIDED AND DOES NOT PROVIDE THE RaaS, read the FAQ page.WE NEVER WRITES FIRST, IF SOMEONE WRITES TO YOU, THEY ARE SCAMMERS.If we have not responded to you by email within 12 hours, please leave your contact information on the website in the contact tab.  |  
| --- |  
| Ever Ready First Aid👁️ views: 1047added: 2026-09-28publication date: 2026-10-01   | Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects👁️ views: 643added: 2026-09-28publication date: 2026-10-01   | Hurley👁️ views: 3185   |  
| Metallco👁️ views: 2558   | Barrett Mahony Consulting Engineers👁️ views: 2966added: 2026-09-18   | Inglewood Golf👁️ views: 3385added: 2026-09-18   |  
| Vista Plastic Solutions👁️ views: 3932added: 2026-09-18   | Grunthal Welding & Supplies👁️ views: 4982added: 2026-09-10   | Sys-kool👁️ views: 4873added: 2026-09-10   |  
| GT Distributors👁️ views: 6230added: 2026-09-08   | Red Star Oil👁️ views: 5663   | Meteor Group👁️ views: 7823added: 2026-08-31   |

Screenshot of the leak post

Leak screenshot for Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects

Sources

Leak posthttp://ipi4tiumgzjsym6pyuzrfqrtwskokxokqannmd6sa24shvr7x5kxdvqd.onion

Source

Indexed 14 days ago

This page surfaces a public ransomware disclosure indexed by Darkfield. Original posts come from the operator's own leak site; we cross-check against ransomware.live, RansomLook and RansomWatch where applicable. Share this URL freely.

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Disclosure context

About Play

**Overview:** Play (also known as PlayCrypt) is a financially motivated ransomware group that emerged in late 2022, conducting targeted attacks against organizations across multiple sectors with a focus on financial extortion. **Origin & Affiliation:** The group's country of origin remains unclear based on public reporting, though they appear to operate independently rather than as a traditional ransomware-as-a-service model. **Attack Methodology:** Play ransomware operators typically gain initial access through compromised Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) credentials and exploit valid accounts, then move laterally through networks using tools like Cobalt Strike before deploying their custom ransomware payload. The group employs double extortion tactics, stealing sensitive data before encryption and threatening to publish it on their leak site if ransom demands are not met. **Notable Campaigns:** According to CISA advisories, Play has targeted over 300 entities globally since its emergence, with significant impacts on critical infrastructure sectors including healthcare, education, and government services, though specific ransom amounts and individual victim details vary in public reporting. **Current Status:** Play remains an active threat as of 2024, continuing to target organizations primarily in North America and Europe according to ongoing security researcher observations and law enforcement warnings. The group has been linked to 1,410 public disclosures across our corpus. First observed on a leak site on November 26, 2022; most recent post October 13, 2026. The operation is currently active.

Also tracked as: PlayCrypt.

Timeline of this disclosure

September 29, 2026Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects listed by Play on the group's public leak site

Other recent disclosures by Play

Play has been linked to 1,410 public victims on Darkfield. A sample of the most recent:

See the full Play dossier →

Sector and geography

This disclosure adds to ransomware activity in the Architecture/Landscape Architecture sector.

If your organisation is affected

A listing by Play means Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects appeared on a ransomware extortion site and is being pressured to pay before any publication. If this is your organisation, or a supplier you depend on, the priority is to confirm the intrusion and contain it before the window to act closes.

Engage your incident-response team and preserve forensic evidence before remediating — do not wipe affected systems first.
Force a password reset and revoke active sessions for exposed accounts; rotate any credentials, API keys or certificates that may have been in the stolen data.
Assess regulatory notification duties (GDPR, NIS2, sector regulators) — many carry a 72-hour reporting clock from awareness.
Monitor for the data appearing on Play's leak site and across paste and breach channels, and brief downstream partners who may be exposed through you.

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.