Disclosure context

About Blackmatter

BlackMatter is a financially motivated ransomware-as-a-service operation that emerged in July 2021, positioning itself as a successor to the defunct DarkSide and REvil ransomware groups. The group is believed to operate from Russia or former Soviet states, recruiting Russian-speaking affiliates through underground forums and operating under the RaaS model where core developers provide ransomware tools to affiliate operators in exchange for a percentage of ransom payments. BlackMatter employs sophisticated attack methodologies including initial access through compromised VPN credentials, phishing campaigns, and exploitation of known vulnerabilities, followed by deployment of custom tools for lateral movement and credential harvesting before deploying their ransomware payload that uses a combination of RSA and Salsa20 encryption algorithms, while also implementing double extortion tactics by exfiltrating sensitive data prior to encryption and threatening public release if ransom demands are not met. Notable campaigns include attacks against critical infrastructure sectors particularly targeting agricultural cooperatives, technology companies, and financial institutions across the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom, with ransom demands reportedly ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars. The group announced their dissolution in November 2021, claiming to cease operations due to pressure from law enforcement and government agencies, though security researchers believe the core operators likely transitioned to other ransomware variants or rebranded under different names. The group has been linked to 32 public disclosures across our corpus. First observed on a leak site on September 8, 2021; most recent post November 4, 2021. The operation is currently inactive.

Also tracked as: Darkside.

Timeline of this disclosure

November 4, 2021National Beverage listed by Blackmatteron the group's public leak site

Sector and geography

This disclosure adds to ransomware activity in the Food & Agriculture sector, which has 13 disclosures indexed across all operators we track. Geographically, National Beverage 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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National Beverage

Claimed by Blackmatter · listed 5 years ago

55m

Age

since listed · data leaked

Status timeline

Listed
Nov 4, 2021
Data leaked

At a glance

Group: Blackmatter
Status: Data leaked
Country: United States
Sector: Food & Agriculture
Listed on leak site: Nov 4, 2021

About the victim

AI dossier — public-source company profile

National Beverage Corp. is a U.S.-based beverage company that manufactures and distributes a portfolio of sparkling waters, juices, energy drinks, and carbonated soft drinks. Its flagship brands include LaCroix sparkling water, Shasta, Faygo, Rip It energy drinks, and Everfresh juices. The company positions itself as a health-conscious beverage innovator and operates across production, marketing, and distribution.

Industry: Beverage Manufacturing & Distribution
Employees: 201-500
Founded: 1985

Attack summary

Severity: high — The disclosed status is data_published, meaning BlackMatter has reportedly released exfiltrated data from a publicly traded U.S. food and beverage company, constituting confirmed exfiltration of significant business data even though the specific data inventory and volume are not detailed in the captured post.

BlackMatter claimed an attack against National Beverage Corp. with a disclosed status of data_published, indicating that exfiltrated data has been released; however, no leak post text, ransom amount, or data size was captured to further detail what was encrypted or exfiltrated.

high

Data the group says was taken

AI dossier — extracted from the leak post

Corporate business data
Potentially financial records
Potentially employee/HR records
Potentially operational/manufacturing data

Sources

Victim sitenationalbeverage.com

Source

Indexed 5 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.