DoppelPaymer is a sophisticated ransomware operation that emerged in May 2019, operating as a financially motivated cybercriminal enterprise focused on high-value targets across multiple sectors. The group is believed to have connections to Russia and operates independently rather than as a traditional Ransomware-as-a-Service model, though they have been linked to the earlier Dridex banking trojan operations and may share infrastructure or personnel with the Evil Corp cybercriminal organization. DoppelPaymer operators primarily gain initial access through phishing campaigns, exploitation of Remote Desktop Protocol vulnerabilities, and leveraging existing Dridex infections, utilizing tools such as Cobalt Strike, PowerShell Empire, and various living-off-the-land techniques before deploying their custom ransomware that employs RSA-2048 and AES-256 encryption algorithms. The group pioneered double extortion tactics by operating a leak site called "Dopple Leaks" where they publish stolen data from victims who refuse to pay ransoms, systematically exfiltrating sensitive information before encryption deployment. Notable campaigns include attacks on major healthcare systems during the COVID-19 pandemic, critical infrastructure targets, and educational institutions, with the group demanding ransoms typically ranging from hundreds of thousands to several million dollars, leading to FBI alerts and international law enforcement attention. As of recent observations, DoppelPaymer activity has significantly decreased since late 2021, with many researchers believing the group has either ceased operations or rebranded under a different identity following increased law enforcement pressure. The group has been linked to 34 public disclosures across our corpus. First observed on a leak site on August 25, 2017; most recent post April 10, 2021. The operation is currently inactive.
Also tracked as: Pay OR Grief, BitPaymer, IEncrypt, FriedEx.
Sector and geography
This disclosure adds to ransomware activity in the Energy sector, which has 652 disclosures indexed across all operators we track. Geographically, Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) is reported in Mexico, a country with 196 ransomware disclosures in our corpus.
If your organisation is affected
A listing by Doppelpaymer means Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) 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, CERT-MX (Mexico), as required for your jurisdiction.
- Monitor for the data appearing on Doppelpaymer'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.
