Disclosure context

About Blackbyte

BlackByte is a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) operation that emerged in October 2021, primarily motivated by financial gain through double extortion tactics targeting organizations across multiple sectors. The group is suspected to operate from Russia or former Soviet states based on their use of Russian-language forums and avoidance of targeting organizations in Commonwealth of Independent States countries, though they maintain no confirmed links to other established ransomware families. BlackByte operators typically gain initial access through vulnerable Microsoft Exchange servers, phishing campaigns, and exploitation of remote desktop protocol (RDP) services, employing tools such as Cobalt Strike for lateral movement and data exfiltration before deploying their custom ransomware payload that uses AES-256 encryption with RSA-2048 key protection. The group has demonstrated particular focus on critical infrastructure sectors, with the FBI and CISA issuing joint advisories in February 2022 highlighting attacks against organizations in government, healthcare, manufacturing, and education sectors, including notable incidents affecting San Francisco's transportation authority and multiple healthcare systems across the United States. BlackByte remains active as of 2024, continuing to evolve their tactics and maintain their leak site for publishing stolen data from victims who refuse to pay ransoms. The group has been linked to 147 public disclosures across our corpus. First observed on a leak site on October 4, 2021; most recent post July 30, 2025. The operation is currently inactive.

Timeline of this disclosure

September 9, 2023Kirby Risk listed by Blackbyteon the group's public leak site

Sector and geography

This disclosure adds to ransomware activity in the Energy & Utilities sector, which has 6 disclosures indexed across all operators we track. Geographically, Kirby Risk is reported in India, a country with 255 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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Kirby Risk

Claimed by Blackbyte · listed 3 years ago

32m

Age

since listed · data leaked

Status timeline

Listed
Sep 9, 2023
Data leaked

At a glance

Group: Blackbyte
Status: Data leaked
Country: India
Sector: Energy & Utilities
Listed on leak site: Sep 9, 2023

About the victim

AI dossier — public-source company profile

Kirby Risk is an electrical products distributor and services provider headquartered in Indiana, USA, operating more than 40 locations across Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, and Georgia. Founded in 1926, the company represents over 2,000 manufacturers and stocks more than 90,000 products. It provides around-the-clock electrical product supply and services to industrial and commercial customers.

Industry: Electrical Products Distribution & Services
Employees: 501-1000
Founded: 1926

Attack summary

Severity: high — Data has been confirmed as published by the ransomware group, indicating successful exfiltration of business data from a multi-state distributor with a large customer and supplier base; likely includes commercially sensitive procurement, customer, and financial records.

BlackByte claims to have exfiltrated data from Kirby Risk and has published the data, as indicated by the 'data_published' disclosure status. The specific categories of exfiltrated data are not enumerated in the leak post.

high

Data the group says was taken

AI dossier — extracted from the leak post

Internal business data
Customer records
Supplier/manufacturer records
Operational data

What the group claims

Since 1926, Kirby Risk has remained committed to the concept of sacrificial service by going above and beyond what it takes to provide you with the right products and services at the right time, to the right place, at the right cost—working hard every day to MAKE IT HAPPEN!Today, Kirby Risk is still known by our customers as a dependable resource dedicated to solving their problems with the more than 40 locations throughout Indiana, Illinois, Ohio and Georgia. Our skilled and experienced team members are available around the clock to meet your electrical product and service needs. We represent over 2,000 manufacturers and carry more than 90,000 top-quality products.

Sources

Victim sitekirbyrisk.com

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.