Disclosure context

About Payloadbin

Payloadbin is a relatively obscure ransomware group that emerged in September 2021, primarily motivated by financial gain through extortion operations targeting diverse sectors across multiple countries. The group's origin and potential affiliations remain largely undocumented in public threat intelligence reporting, with limited information available regarding whether they operate as an independent entity or utilize a Ransomware-as-a-Service model. Based on observed victim patterns, Payloadbin has demonstrated a broad targeting approach without apparent sector specialization, though they have notably impacted healthcare, manufacturing, agriculture and food production, and telecommunications organizations across 48 documented cases. Their attack methodology and specific technical capabilities have not been extensively documented by major security research organizations, though their operational pattern suggests standard ransomware deployment tactics. The group has primarily targeted victims in the United States, Philippines, Australia, Mexico, and the United Kingdom, indicating either a broad opportunistic approach or potential linguistic capabilities spanning English-speaking regions and select international markets. No major high-profile campaigns, significant law enforcement disruptions, or notable ransomware payment records have been publicly attributed to this group by federal agencies or established threat intelligence firms. Current operational status remains unclear due to limited public documentation, though the group's relatively recent emergence and modest victim count suggests they may represent a smaller-scale operation compared to prominent ransomware families tracked by CISA and FBI reporting. The group has been linked to 48 public disclosures across our corpus. First observed on a leak site on September 9, 2021; most recent post March 26, 2026. The operation is currently active.

Timeline of this disclosure

September 30, 2021calautomotive.com listed by Payloadbinon the group's public leak site

Sector and geography

This disclosure adds to ransomware activity in the Automotive sector, which has 11 disclosures indexed across all operators we track. Geographically, calautomotive.com 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

← All victims

Cal Automotive

listed as calautomotive.com · Claimed by Payloadbin · listed 5 years ago

56m

Age

since listed · data leaked

Status timeline

Listed
Sep 30, 2021
Data leaked

At a glance

Group: Payloadbin
Status: Data leaked
Country: United States
Sector: Automotive
Listed on leak site: Sep 30, 2021

About the victim

AI dossier — public-source company profile

Cal Automotive (calautomotive.com) is a United States-based automotive company, likely operating in vehicle sales, repair, or related services based on its domain and sector classification. No further details could be confirmed from the public site or leak post due to unavailable content.

Industry: Automotive Retail & Services

Attack summary

Severity: medium — Data is marked as published, indicating confirmed exfiltration rather than a mere listing, but the absence of any leak post details, data inventory, or proof files prevents escalation to high or critical. The automotive retail sector is not a critical infrastructure vertical and no regulated data (medical, financial, government) is evidenced.

The Payloadbin ransomware group has listed calautomotive.com as a victim with a disclosed status of data_published, suggesting data exfiltration has occurred; however, no specific claims about encryption, data types, or volume are available from the captured leak post.

medium

Sources

Victim sitecalautomotive.com

Source

Indexed 5 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.