Disclosure context

About payoutsking

PayoutsKing is a recently emerged ransomware group first observed in July 2025, operating with apparent financial motivations and demonstrating broad geographic and sectoral targeting capabilities. With limited public documentation available from major threat intelligence sources, the group's origin and affiliations remain unclear, though their targeting pattern suggests a professional ransomware operation rather than opportunistic attacks. Based on available victim data, PayoutsKing has compromised approximately 60 organizations across multiple sectors, with primary focus on the United States, Germany, United Kingdom, France, and Spain, targeting manufacturing, healthcare, technology, and construction industries alongside various other sectors. The group's attack methodology, encryption techniques, and whether they employ double or triple extortion tactics have not been publicly detailed by established security researchers or government agencies. Given the group's recent emergence in July 2025, there are no widely reported major campaigns or high-profile incidents documented by reputable sources such as CISA, FBI, or Mandiant at this time. PayoutsKing appears to remain active as of current reporting, though comprehensive threat intelligence profiles from established security firms have not yet been published due to the group's recent emergence. The group has been linked to 100 public disclosures across our corpus. First observed on a leak site on July 7, 2025; most recent post May 13, 2026. The operation is currently active.

Timeline of this disclosure

April 30, 2026Vortex Companies listed by payoutskingon the group's public leak site

Sector and geography

This disclosure adds to ransomware activity in the Not Found sector, which has 4,859 disclosures indexed across all operators we track. Geographically, Vortex Companies is reported in US, a country with 2,713 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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Vortex Companies

Claimed by payoutsking · listed 21 days ago

21d

Age

since listed · data leaked

Status timeline

Listed
Apr 30, 2026
Data leaked

At a glance

Group: payoutsking
Status: Data leaked
Country: US
Sector: Not Found
Listed on leak site: Apr 30, 2026

About the victim

AI dossier — public-source company profile

Vortex Companies is a US-based manufacturer and service provider specializing in trenchless technology solutions for water and wastewater infrastructure rehabilitation. The company offers products including CIPP liner systems, sewer robotic systems, coatings and materials, and sensors, as well as services such as pipe bursting, manhole rehabilitation, and geopolymer pipe lining. It serves municipalities, utilities, and contractors across North America and has operations in Europe.

Industry: Water & Wastewater Infrastructure Rehabilitation (Trenchless Technology)

Attack summary

Severity: medium — Data has been published, indicating confirmed exfiltration, but the leak post provides no detail on data type, volume, or sensitivity, and there is no evidence of regulated PII, financial, or critical-infrastructure operational data being specifically compromised. The company operates in critical water/wastewater infrastructure, which elevates concern, but without confirmed sensitive data disclosure the rating remains medium.

The group 'payoutsking' claims to have compromised Vortex Companies and has published data (disclosed status: data_published), though the leak post does not specify whether encryption or exfiltration occurred, nor does it detail the volume or type of data involved.

medium

Original description

AI-summarised, not from the leak post

Vortex Companies is a US-based infrastructure rehabilitation firm specializing in trenchless technology solutions for underground pipe and sewer systems. Operating in the water and wastewater industry, the company provides services including pipe lining, manhole rehabilitation, and structural repair. It serves municipalities and utilities across North America, helping extend the life of aging infrastructure without extensive excavation.

The leak post

captured from the group's site

PayoutsKing PayoutsKing Blog News About Partnership Welcome PK MAIN TOX: 535F403A2EA2DC71A392E18D7DB77FEF70845C0B7E5B9114CD30D301870304379C3547E324E2 Company Create Website Country Revenue Employees Actions Data Views Status H****l 2026-04-21 t****.com USA $786M ** Exfiltrated 860GB 0 Declared 1d 02:08 F****p 2026-04-14 fl****.com USA $2.7B ** Exfiltrated &amp; Encrypted 1.1TB 0 Declared 1d 02:08 H****o 2026-04-01 has****.com USA $TBD ** Exfiltrated &amp; Encrypted 4.8TB 0 Declared 1d 02:08 A****y 2026-03-31 ape****.com USA $309M ** Exfiltrated &amp; Encrypted 3TB 0 Declared 2d 00:04 NTN Bearing Corporation of America 2026-04-24 ntnamericas.com USA $1.5B 4700 Exfiltrated 596GB 420 Proof 6d 02:09 About company: NTN Bearing is a producer of ball and roller bearings, with plants around the globe and a strong, domestic manufacturing network. Data description: Confidential, Employees&#39; PII (Personally Identifiable Information), Correspondence, Financial, Engineering, Contracts, Agreements, NDA, FULL INFO SunSource 2026-04-20 sun-source.com USA $2B 3500 Exfiltrated 700GB 3401 Disclosed About company: SunSource is a distribution company, providing products, services, and information in…

Sources

Source

Indexed 21 days 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.