Disclosure context

About Blackbyte

BlackByte is a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) operation that emerged in October 2021, primarily motivated by financial gain through double extortion tactics targeting organizations across multiple sectors. The group is suspected to operate from Russia or former Soviet states based on their use of Russian-language forums and avoidance of targeting organizations in Commonwealth of Independent States countries, though they maintain no confirmed links to other established ransomware families. BlackByte operators typically gain initial access through vulnerable Microsoft Exchange servers, phishing campaigns, and exploitation of remote desktop protocol (RDP) services, employing tools such as Cobalt Strike for lateral movement and data exfiltration before deploying their custom ransomware payload that uses AES-256 encryption with RSA-2048 key protection. The group has demonstrated particular focus on critical infrastructure sectors, with the FBI and CISA issuing joint advisories in February 2022 highlighting attacks against organizations in government, healthcare, manufacturing, and education sectors, including notable incidents affecting San Francisco's transportation authority and multiple healthcare systems across the United States. BlackByte remains active as of 2024, continuing to evolve their tactics and maintain their leak site for publishing stolen data from victims who refuse to pay ransoms. The group has been linked to 147 public disclosures across our corpus. First observed on a leak site on October 4, 2021; most recent post July 30, 2025. The operation is currently inactive.

Timeline of this disclosure

September 11, 2023Alps Alpine listed by Blackbyteon the group's public leak site

Sector and geography

This disclosure adds to ransomware activity in the Manufacturing sector, which has 2,458 disclosures indexed across all operators we track. Geographically, Alps Alpine is reported in Japan, a country with 108 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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Alps Alpine

Claimed by Blackbyte · listed 3 years ago

32m

Age

since listed · data leaked

Status timeline

Listed
Sep 11, 2023
Data leaked

At a glance

Group: Blackbyte
Status: Data leaked
Country: Japan
Sector: Manufacturing
Listed on leak site: Sep 11, 2023

About the victim

AI dossier — public-source company profile

Alps Alpine Co., Ltd. is a Japanese manufacturer of electronic components and automotive infotainment systems, formed in January 2019 through the integration of Alps Electric Co., Ltd. and Alpine Electronics, Inc. The company operates 110 bases across 26 countries and regions, supplying approximately 40,000 products and solutions to around 2,000 companies worldwide. Its markets include automotive, mobile, consumer electronics, energy, healthcare, and industrial sectors.

Industry: Electronic Components & Automotive Infotainment Systems
Employees: 10000+
Founded: 1948

Attack summary

Severity: high — Data has been confirmed as published by the ransomware group against a major global manufacturer with operations in 26 countries and sensitive automotive/electronic supply chain data. The scale of the organisation and breadth of its customer base (2,000 companies) elevates this beyond medium, though no specific regulated PII at scale or government/defence data is explicitly confirmed.

BlackByte claims to have compromised Alps Alpine and has published data ('data_published' status), indicating confirmed exfiltration of company data. No specific ransom amount or data volume was stated in the post.

high

Data the group says was taken

AI dossier — extracted from the leak post

Corporate business data
Proprietary product and engineering information
Supplier and customer records
Internal operational documents

What the group claims

Alps Alpine, a leading manufacturer of electronic components and automotive infotainment systems, has brought the world numerous “First 1” and “Number 1” products since its founding in 1948. The Alps Alpine Group currently operates 110 bases in 26 countries and regions, supplying roughly 40,000 different products and solutions to around 2,000 companies worldwide. In January 2019, Alps Electric Co., Ltd. and Alpine Electronics, Inc. integrated their businesses to embark on a new era as Alps Alpine Co., Ltd. Serving a diverse range of markets encompassing an automotive industry currently undergoing major transformation, the mobile and consumer electronics domains, through to energy, healthcare and industry markets, Alps Alpine will combine and build on core device technology established over many years in three areas – human-machine interfaces, SENSORING™ and connectivity – along with system design and software development capabilities to innovate value that brings comfort to and enriches the lives of people everywhere.

Sources

Victim sitealpsalpine.com

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.