Disclosure context

About Royal

Royal is a financially motivated ransomware group that emerged in November 2022, quickly establishing itself as a significant threat with over 200 documented victims across multiple sectors. The group is believed to operate independently rather than as a ransomware-as-a-service model, though their exact country of origin remains unclear based on publicly available intelligence. Royal primarily gains initial access through phishing campaigns and exploitation of remote desktop protocols, subsequently deploying custom ransomware that encrypts victim files while exfiltrating sensitive data for double extortion tactics. The group has demonstrated a preference for targeting critical infrastructure and public services, with notable attacks against educational institutions, healthcare facilities, and government entities primarily in the United States, though they have also significantly impacted organizations across Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, and France. Their encryption methodology involves custom-built malware that systematically encrypts files while maintaining persistence on compromised networks. As of recent reporting from federal agencies including CISA and FBI advisories, Royal remains an active threat with ongoing campaigns targeting organizations across their preferred sectors, particularly focusing on entities with limited cybersecurity resources that may be more likely to pay ransom demands. The group has been linked to 211 public disclosures across our corpus. First observed on a leak site on November 4, 2022; most recent post July 19, 2023. The operation is currently inactive.

Timeline of this disclosure

May 22, 2023Morris Hospital listed by Royalon the group's public leak site

Sector and geography

This disclosure adds to ransomware activity in the Healthcare sector, which has 1,779 disclosures indexed across all operators we track. Geographically, Morris Hospital is reported in United States, a country with 7,392 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.

Ransomware victim disclosure

← All victims

Morris Hospital

Claimed by Royal · listed 3 years ago

36m

Age

since listed · data leaked

Status timeline

Listed
May 22, 2023
Data leaked

At a glance

Group: Royal
Status: Data leaked
Country: United States
Sector: Healthcare
Listed on leak site: May 22, 2023

About the victim

AI dossier — public-source company profile

Morris Hospital & Healthcare Centers is a community hospital located in Morris, Illinois, serving Grundy County and surrounding areas. It provides a broad range of inpatient and outpatient services including emergency care, surgery, oncology, and primary care. The organization operates multiple clinics and healthcare facilities across the region.

Industry: Acute Care Hospital & Health Services
Address: 150 West High Street, Morris, IL 60450
Employees: 501-1000
Founded: 1923

Attack summary

Severity: critical — The victim is a healthcare provider subject to HIPAA; data_published status confirms exfiltration and public release of data almost certainly containing protected health information (PHI) and PII at scale, meeting the critical threshold for regulated sensitive data.

The Royal ransomware group claims to have attacked Morris Hospital and has reached the data_published stage, indicating exfiltration and publication of stolen data. The specific data categories and volume are not detailed in the available leak post.

critical

Data the group says was taken

AI dossier — extracted from the leak post

Patient records
Personally identifiable information (PII)
Protected health information (PHI)
Employee records
Financial records
Internal business documents

Sources

Source

Indexed 3 years 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.