Was UCG Associates hit by ransomware?

UCG Associates was listed by the Play ransomware operation (United States), and stolen data was published on the group's leak site. Darkfield tracks this disclosure with the original leak post, screenshot and group context.

Who is the Play ransomware group?

Play is a ransomware operator tracked by Darkfield. See the full operator dossier for its known victims, sectors targeted, IOCs and leak-site infrastructure.

What data was leaked in the UCG Associates breach?

Play published data attributed to UCG Associates. Darkfield captured the leak post and a screenshot of the listing.

Ransomware victim disclosure

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UCG Associates, Inc.

listed as UCG Associates · Claimed by Play · listed 4 months ago

Age

since listed · data leaked

Status timeline

ListedFeb 13, 2026
Data leakeddate unknown

At a glance

Group: Play
Status: Data leaked
Country: United States
Listed on leak site: Feb 13, 2026

About the victim

AI dossier — public-source company profile

UCG Associates, Inc. is a Chicago-based consulting firm specializing in services for government clients, including financial planning, management consulting, concessions planning and management, customer experience surveys, audit and cost recovery, and data analytics. The firm has assisted government entities with financial strategies for over 30 years. It focuses on airports and other government-adjacent operations.

Industry: Government Management & Financial Consulting
Address: 150 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 2930, Chicago, IL 60601

Attack summary

Severity: high — Data has been published (data_published status) by Play, confirming exfiltration. The victim serves government clients and handles sensitive financial, audit, and operational data on their behalf, representing significant business and potentially regulated data exposure at scale.

The Play ransomware group claims to have attacked UCG Associates and has published data (disclosed status: data_published), indicating exfiltration and/or encryption of company data. No ransom amount or specific data volume was stated in the post.

high

Data the group says was taken

AI dossier — extracted from the leak post

Financial planning records
Management consulting documents
Government client data
Audit and cost recovery files
Data analytics reports
Customer experience survey data
Concessions planning documents

What the group claims

United States

The leak post

captured from the group's site

| Play ransomware HAS NEVER PROVIDED AND DOES NOT PROVIDE THE RaaS, read the FAQ page.WE NEVER WRITES FIRST, IF SOMEONE WRITES TO YOU, THEY ARE SCAMMERS.we'll buy your access: 75tkvxemb6zpyk3fbl3mwm32jklc2sdjacb3kazrioamopbfn2w2z5qd.onionIf we have not responded to you by email within 12 hours, please leave your contact information on the website in the contact tab. |  
| --- |  
| EMA Engineering & Consulting👁️ views: 321added: 2026-05-07publication date: 2026-05-11   | Accessoires Outillage Ltee👁️ views: 280added: 2026-05-07publication date: 2026-05-11   | K & E Distributing👁️ views: 282added: 2026-05-07publication date: 2026-05-11   |  
| Sokolin👁️ views: 7261   | Barnes Solicitors LLP👁️ views: 7182   | Witt UK Group👁️ views: 8181   |  
| Valley Plating Inc👁️ views: 8198   | Dock Pros👁️ views: 8179   | Kivells👁️ views: 8149   |  
| Specflue👁️ views: 8136   | Weber Kracht & Chellew👁️ views: 8180   | Lucky Look👁️ views: 8285   |

Sources

Victim sitewww.ucgassociates.com
Leak posthttp://k7kg3jqxang3wh7hnmaiokchk7qoebupfgoik6rha6mjpzwupwtj25yd.onion/topic.php?id=yJURcaf1zScW0b

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.

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Disclosure context

About Play

**Overview:** Play (also known as PlayCrypt) is a financially motivated ransomware group that emerged in late 2022, conducting targeted attacks against organizations across multiple sectors with a focus on financial extortion. **Origin & Affiliation:** The group's country of origin remains unclear based on public reporting, though they appear to operate independently rather than as a traditional ransomware-as-a-service model. **Attack Methodology:** Play ransomware operators typically gain initial access through compromised Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) credentials and exploit valid accounts, then move laterally through networks using tools like Cobalt Strike before deploying their custom ransomware payload. The group employs double extortion tactics, stealing sensitive data before encryption and threatening to publish it on their leak site if ransom demands are not met. **Notable Campaigns:** According to CISA advisories, Play has targeted over 300 entities globally since its emergence, with significant impacts on critical infrastructure sectors including healthcare, education, and government services, though specific ransom amounts and individual victim details vary in public reporting. **Current Status:** Play remains an active threat as of 2024, continuing to target organizations primarily in North America and Europe according to ongoing security researcher observations and law enforcement warnings. The group has been linked to 1,304 public disclosures across our corpus. First observed on a leak site on November 26, 2022; most recent post June 11, 2026. The operation is currently active.

Also tracked as: PlayCrypt.

Timeline of this disclosure

February 13, 2026UCG Associates listed by Playon the group's public leak site

Other recent disclosures by Play

Play has been linked to 1,304 public victims on Darkfield. A sample of the most recent:

See the full Play dossier →

Sector and geography

Geographically, UCG Associates is reported in United States, a country with 7,392 ransomware disclosures in our corpus.

If your organisation is affected

A listing by Play means UCG Associates 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.
Monitor for the data appearing on Play'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.