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 26, 2023DirectViz Solutions listed by Royalon the group's public leak site

Data size: 246 GB

Sector and geography

This disclosure adds to ransomware activity in the Technology sector, which has 2,524 disclosures indexed across all operators we track. Geographically, DirectViz Solutions 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

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DirectViz Solutions

Claimed by Royal · listed 3 years ago

246 GB

Data size

36m

Age

since listed · data leaked

Status timeline

Listed
May 26, 2023
Data leaked

At a glance

Group: Royal
Status: Data leaked
Country: United States
Sector: Technology
Listed on leak site: May 26, 2023
Data size: 246 GB

About the victim

AI dossier — public-source company profile

DirectViz Solutions (DVS) is a U.S.-based information technology and managed services firm specializing in cybersecurity, IT service management, application development, and logistics and training for defense and federal government clients. The company supports over 950,000 global users, has secured more than 1.5 million endpoints, and holds active contracts with more than a dozen federal agencies including the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, DHS, and the Department of State. DVS holds ISO/IEC 27001:2022 and CMMC-related certifications and employs a cleared workforce operating in high-risk federal environments.

Industry: Defense & Federal IT Services
Employees: 51-200

Attack summary

Severity: critical — DVS is a cleared federal defense contractor providing IT services directly to U.S. government agencies including the Department of State and defense entities. Exfiltration of 246 GB of data from such an organization poses serious national security risks, including potential exposure of classified program details, cleared personnel records, government network configurations, and sensitive agency operational data. Data has been confirmed published.

The Royal ransomware group claims to have exfiltrated 246 GB of data from DirectViz Solutions, with the data disclosed as published. The post references DVS's role providing IT services to the IRM (Bureau of Information Resource Management at the U.S. Department of State), suggesting the exfiltrated data may include sensitive federal contractor and government-related information.

critical

Data the group says was taken

AI dossier — extracted from the leak post

Federal contractor operational data
IT service management records
Employee and personnel data (likely including clearance-related information)
Government agency support documentation
Cybersecurity configurations and infrastructure data
Contract and program documentation

What the group claims

Directviz Solutions (DVS) provides the information technology and services IRM needs to successfully carry out its foreign policy mission. DVS provides state of the art Information Technology End-user Support Services (ITESS).Total downloaded data - 246gb

Sources

Victim sitedirectviz.com
Leak posthttp://royal4ezp7xrbakkus3oofjw6gszrohpodmdnfbe5e4w3og5sm7vb3qd.onion/zUZNqEC36eV747EWkhRe3kyqmNoqyOdV

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.