Was Research Electronics International hit by ransomware?

Research Electronics International was listed by the Nitrogen ransomware operation (United States), and stolen data was published on the group's leak site. Darkfield tracks this disclosure with the original leak post, screenshot and group context.

Who is the Nitrogen ransomware group?

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

What data was leaked in the Research Electronics International breach?

Nitrogen published data attributed to Research Electronics International. Darkfield captured the leak post and a screenshot of the listing.

Ransomware victim disclosure

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Research Electronics International

Claimed by Nitrogen · listed 2 years ago

22m

Age

since listed · data leaked

Status timeline

ListedOct 1, 2024
Data leakeddate unknown

At a glance

Group: Nitrogen
Status: Data leaked
Country: United States
Sector: Technology
Listed on leak site: Oct 1, 2024

About the victim

AI dossier — public-source company profile

Research Electronics International (REI) designs and manufactures technical surveillance countermeasure (TSCM) equipment and RF detection devices for government agencies, law enforcement, military, and corporate security personnel. Founded in 1983 in Cookeville, Tennessee, REI became a subsidiary of HEICO Corporation in June 2019 and serves clients worldwide requiring electronic eavesdropping detection and surveillance protection.

Industry: Electronic Test Equipment Manufacturing; Technical Security
Address: Cookeville, Tennessee, United States
Founded: 1983

Attack summary

Severity: medium — Company operates in sensitive defense/law enforcement sector with access to classified or restricted technical information. However, no data inventory, proof files, or specific exfiltration claims are detailed in the leak post—only a company profile. The absence of disclosed proof or data specifics prevents a higher rating despite the strategic importance of the target.

The Nitrogen group claims to have compromised Research Electronics International but the leak post contains no explicit statement of what data was exfiltrated, encrypted, or the specific attack method employed. The post appears to be an announcement of the victim rather than disclosure of attack details or proof.

medium

What the group claims

REI specializes in the design and manufacture of electronic test equipment for security applications. The company was founded in 1983 in Cookeville, Tennessee, U.S.A. by Bruce Barsumian, who later partnered with Tom Jones (GM) in 1995. In June 2019 REI became an Electronic Technologies subsidiary of HEICO Corporation (Hollywood, FL, USA). REI customers include government agencies, law enforcement organizations, corporate security personnel, and TSCM professionals worldwide that have a need and responsibility to protect sensitive information.

Sources

Victim sitereiusa.net
Leak posthttp://nitrogenczslprh3xyw6lh5xyjvmsz7ciljoqxxknd7uymkfetfhgvqd.onion/postrei

Source

Indexed 2 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.

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Disclosure context

About Nitrogen

**Nitrogen** is an emerging ransomware group that first appeared in September 2024, operating with apparent financial motivations through targeted extortion campaigns primarily focused on North American and European organizations. The group has claimed responsibility for attacks against 46 documented victims across multiple sectors, with manufacturing companies representing their most frequent targets. Limited public information suggests the group operates independently rather than as a Ransomware-as-a-Service model, though their specific country of origin and potential affiliations with other cybercriminal organizations remain undetermined by major security research firms. Their attack methodology appears to focus on opportunistic targeting across diverse industries including manufacturing, business services, technology, and hospitality sectors, with the United States serving as their primary area of operations followed by significant activity in Canada, Portugal, India, and France. Due to the group's recent emergence and relatively low profile compared to established ransomware families, detailed technical analysis of their encryption methods, data exfiltration practices, and initial access vectors has not been extensively documented by major threat intelligence providers such as CISA, FBI, or Mandiant. Given the group's recent formation in September 2024, no major high-profile campaigns or significant law enforcement actions have been publicly reported, with their victim portfolio consisting primarily of small to medium-sized enterprises rather than critical infrastructure or Fortune 500 companies. Nitrogen appears to remain active as of current reporting, though their limited operational history and relatively small victim count suggest they are still establishing their presence within the broader ransomware ecosystem. The group has been linked to 57 public disclosures across our corpus. First observed on a leak site on September 30, 2024; most recent post June 3, 2026. The operation is currently active.

Timeline of this disclosure

October 1, 2024Research Electronics International listed by Nitrogenon the group's public leak site

Other recent disclosures by Nitrogen

Nitrogen has been linked to 57 public victims on Darkfield. A sample of the most recent:

See the full Nitrogen dossier →

Sector and geography

This disclosure adds to ransomware activity in the Technology sector, which has 3,563 disclosures indexed across all operators we track. Geographically, Research Electronics International is reported in United States, a country with 11,033 ransomware disclosures in our corpus.

If your organisation is affected

A listing by Nitrogen means Research Electronics International appeared on a ransomware extortion site and data attributed to it has been published. 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.
Report the incident to your national CERT, CISA (United States), as required for your jurisdiction.
Monitor for the data appearing on Nitrogen'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.