Disclosure context

About vect

The Vect ransomware group is an emerging threat actor first observed in January 2026, operating with apparent financial motivations based on their ransomware deployment patterns. With limited public documentation available from major cybersecurity organizations, the group's country of origin and potential affiliations remain unclear, though their targeting patterns suggest a relatively small-scale operation compared to established ransomware families. Based on available victim data, Vect has compromised at least 23 organizations globally, with primary focus on Brazil, the United States, South Africa, Namibia, and Egypt, demonstrating a geographically diverse targeting approach that spans multiple continents. The group appears to concentrate their attacks on manufacturing, healthcare, technology, and energy sectors, suggesting they may seek targets with critical infrastructure dependencies or valuable data assets, though their specific attack methodologies and encryption techniques have not been extensively documented by major threat intelligence providers. Given the group's recent emergence in early 2026, comprehensive analysis of their tactics, techniques, and procedures remains limited in public threat intelligence reporting. As of current reporting, Vect appears to remain active, though the limited public visibility suggests they operate at a smaller scale compared to prominent ransomware-as-a-service groups that typically attract more extensive law enforcement and security researcher attention. The group has been linked to 25 public disclosures across our corpus. First observed on a leak site on January 6, 2026; most recent post April 15, 2026. The operation is currently active.

Timeline of this disclosure

January 8, 2026Federal University of Sergipe listed by vecton the group's public leak site

Data size: 150 GB

Sector and geography

This disclosure adds to ransomware activity in the Education sector, which has 694 disclosures indexed across all operators we track. Geographically, Federal University of Sergipe is reported in Brazil, a country with 319 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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Federal University of Sergipe

Claimed by vect · listed 4 months ago

150 GB

Data size

Age

since listed · data leaked

Status timeline

Listed
Jan 8, 2026
Data leaked

At a glance

Group: vect
Status: Data leaked
Country: Brazil
Sector: Education
Listed on leak site: Jan 8, 2026
Data size: 150 GB

About the victim

AI dossier — public-source company profile

The Federal University of Sergipe (UFS) is a Brazilian public institution of higher education founded on May 15, 1968, with campuses in São Cristóvão, Aracaju, Laranjeiras, Itabaiana, and Lagarto. It enrolls approximately 5,500 incoming freshmen annually across 106 undergraduate courses and offers 46 graduate programs, including 9 PhD programs. UFS also operates two university hospitals and conducts research, extension, and distance-learning activities across the state of Sergipe.

Industry: Public Higher Education
Address: Cidade Universitária, São Cristóvão, Sergipe, Brazil
Founded: 1968

Attack summary

Severity: critical — 150 GB of exfiltrated data explicitly includes student PII at scale and financial records from a public university, which constitutes regulated personal data under Brazil's LGPD; the institution also operates university hospitals, raising potential exposure of sensitive health-related information.

The group vect claims to have exfiltrated approximately 150 GB of data from UFS, including financial records and student data, and has published the disclosure while reportedly still in a negotiation phase with a stated deadline.

critical

Data the group says was taken

AI dossier — extracted from the leak post

Financial records
Student data
Academic records (inferred from SIGAA system)
Administrative records (inferred from SIPAC system)
Human resources data (inferred from SIGRH system)

What the group claims

Status: STATUS: NEGOTIATING | Sector: Education | financial records, students data, etc etc DATA SIZE: 150GB | Deadline: 3d 17h

Sources

Victim siteen.ufs.br

Source

Indexed 4 months 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.