Nefilim is a ransomware group that emerged in May 2020, operating as a financially motivated cybercriminal organization that has targeted at least 15 documented victims across multiple sectors. The group's origin and specific affiliations remain largely undocumented by major security firms, though their operational patterns suggest they function as an independent ransomware operation rather than a confirmed Ransomware-as-a-Service model. Nefilim employs double extortion tactics, stealing sensitive data from victims before deploying their ransomware payload, and threatens to publish exfiltrated information on leak sites if ransom demands are not met, with their attacks primarily focusing on critical manufacturing, media, transportation systems, and communications sectors. The group has demonstrated a geographic targeting preference for Germany, France, New Zealand, and Australia, suggesting either regional operational focus or specific victim selection criteria within these countries. Due to the limited public documentation from major threat intelligence providers, detailed information about specific high-profile campaigns, attack vectors, and current operational status remains sparse in open-source reporting from established security research organizations. The group has been linked to 15 public disclosures across our corpus. First observed on a leak site on May 5, 2020; most recent post September 9, 2021. The operation is currently inactive.
Sector and geography
This disclosure adds to ransomware activity in the Critical Manufacturing sector, which has 55 disclosures indexed across all operators we track. Geographically, DKA (refrigeration and air conditioning specialist, Dussmann Group subsidiary) is reported in Germany, a country with 695 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.
