Disclosure context

About Cuba

The Cuba ransomware group is a financially-motivated cybercriminal organization that emerged in February 2021 and has since conducted attacks against at least 105 known victims globally. The group operates as an independent ransomware operation with suspected ties to Russian-speaking cybercriminals, though their exact country of origin remains unconfirmed by law enforcement agencies. Cuba ransomware operators primarily gain initial access through compromised Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) credentials, exploitation of Microsoft Exchange vulnerabilities, and phishing campaigns, subsequently deploying their custom Cuba ransomware payload which encrypts victim files while exfiltrating sensitive data before encryption as part of their double extortion strategy. The group has particularly targeted organizations in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Australia, and Belgium, with a notable focus on critical infrastructure sectors including healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, and energy companies. According to FBI reporting, the Cuba ransomware group has demanded ransom payments ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars from their victims. As of recent threat intelligence assessments, the Cuba ransomware group remains active and continues to pose a significant threat to organizations across multiple sectors and geographic regions. The group has been linked to 105 public disclosures across our corpus. First observed on a leak site on February 3, 2021; most recent post February 1, 2024. The operation is currently inactive.

Also tracked as: COLDDRAW, Fidel.

Timeline of this disclosure

July 11, 2023gis4.addison-il listed by Cubaon the group's public leak site

Sector and geography

This disclosure adds to ransomware activity in the Government sector, which has 509 disclosures indexed across all operators we track. Geographically, gis4.addison-il 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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Village of Addison

listed as gis4.addison-il · Claimed by Cuba · listed 3 years ago

34m

Age

since listed · data leaked

Status timeline

Listed
Jul 11, 2023
Data leaked

At a glance

Group: Cuba
Status: Data leaked
Country: United States
Sector: Government
Listed on leak site: Jul 11, 2023

About the victim

AI dossier — public-source company profile

The Village of Addison is a municipal government serving a community of more than 36,000 residents in Addison, Illinois. It provides local government services including public works, planning, permitting, and community services. The GIS (Geographic Information Systems) component suggests the village operates spatial data and mapping infrastructure.

Industry: Municipal Government
Address: 1 Friendship Plaza, Addison, IL 60101, United States
Employees: 51-200

Attack summary

Severity: high — A confirmed data publication ('data_published') from a municipal government entity serving 36,000+ residents raises significant concern for PII and civic infrastructure data exposure. Government records and GIS data can include sensitive resident and infrastructure information, and the data has reportedly already been published.

The Cuba ransomware group claims to have compromised the Village of Addison's systems, with the disclosure status indicating data has been published. The leak post references the village's public-facing content, suggesting exfiltration of government data affecting a community of over 36,000 residents.

high

Data the group says was taken

AI dossier — extracted from the leak post

Municipal government records
GIS / geospatial data
Resident data
Internal administrative documents

What the group claims

More than 36,000 people call the Village of Addison home. Whether you are new to our community, or have lived here for years, we want you to get acquainted with our community. We also want to make it easy for you to stay...

Sources

Leak posthttp://cuba4ikm4jakjgmkezytyawtdgr2xymvy6nvzgw5cglswg3si76icnqd.onion/company/gis4.addison-il

Source

Indexed 3 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.