Ransomware victim disclosure

Cherokee Distributing Co

Claimed by akira · listed 10 hours ago

Today

Age

since listed · data leaked

Status timeline

Listed
Jun 3, 2026
Data leaked

At a glance

Group: akira
Status: Data leaked
Country: US
Sector: Transportation/Logistics
Listed on leak site: Jun 3, 2026

About the victim

AI dossier — public-source company profile

Cherokee Distributing Company is a beer and nonalcoholic beverage distributor based in Knoxville, Tennessee, with distribution centers across five additional Tennessee locations (Chattanooga, Cookeville, Kingsport, Pulaski, Tullahoma). The company operates as a regional distributor for leading beverage brands.

Industry: Beverage Distribution & Logistics
Address: Knoxville, Tennessee, US (headquarters); distribution centers in Chattanooga, Cookeville, Kingsport, Pulaski, and Tullahoma, Tennessee

Attack summary

Severity: critical — Confirmed exfiltration of large-scale regulated PII (SSNs, passports, driver's licenses) at organizational scale; data publication announced. High-volume sensitive employee and business data exposure presents significant regulatory and identity-theft risk.

Akira claims to have exfiltrated approximately 40 GB of corporate data, including employee personal documents (passports, driver's licenses, Social Security numbers), contracts, partner/client files, detailed financials, projects, NDAs, and confidential business files. Data publication is stated as forthcoming.

critical

Data the group says was taken

AI dossier — extracted from the leak post

Employee personal documents (passports, driver's licenses)
Social Security numbers
Employment contracts and agreements
Partner and client files
Financial records and statements
Project documentation
Non-Disclosure Agreements
Confidential business files

What the group claims

Cherokee Distributing Company offers the leading brands of beer and other nonalcoholic beverage s. In addition to their headquarters in Knoxville, they manage distribution centers in Chattano oga, Cookeville, Kingsport, Pulaski and Tullahoma. We will upload 40gb of corporate data soon. Employee personal docs (passports, DLs, SSNs), cont racts and agreements, partner and client files, detailed financials, projects, NDAs, confidenti al files, etc.

Source

Indexed 10 hours 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 akira

Akira is a ransomware group that emerged in April 2023, operating with primarily financial motivations and has rapidly established itself as a significant threat actor with over 1,500 documented victims. The group's country of origin remains unclear, though they operate as a Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) model, recruiting affiliates to conduct attacks while the core group maintains the ransomware infrastructure and negotiation processes. Akira employs multi-faceted attack methodologies including exploitation of VPN vulnerabilities, particularly targeting Cisco VPN appliances, and utilizes living-off-the-land techniques along with legitimate administrative tools to avoid detection, while implementing double extortion tactics by exfiltrating sensitive data before deploying their encryption payload. The group has demonstrated a preference for targeting organizations in the United States, Canada, Germany, United Kingdom, and Italy, with a particular focus on manufacturing, business services, technology, and construction sectors, though they have shown willingness to attack various industries. Despite being relatively new to the ransomware landscape, Akira has maintained consistent operations throughout 2023 and into 2024, with law enforcement agencies including CISA and FBI issuing advisories about their activities, though no major disruption operations have been publicly reported against the group as of late 2024. The group has been linked to 1,634 public disclosures across our corpus. First observed on a leak site on April 26, 2023; most recent post June 3, 2026. The operation is currently active.

Also tracked as: Megazord.

Timeline of this disclosure

June 3, 2026Cherokee Distributing Co listed by akiraon the group's public leak site

Other recent disclosures by akira

akira has been linked to 1,634 public victims on Darkfield. A sample of the most recent: