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 1,276 public disclosures across our corpus. First observed on a leak site on November 26, 2022; most recent post May 20, 2026. The operation is currently active.

Also tracked as: PlayCrypt.

Timeline of this disclosure

May 7, 2026Barnes Solicitors LLP listed by Playon the group's public leak site

Sector and geography

This disclosure adds to ransomware activity in the Legal sector, which has 21 disclosures indexed across all operators we track.

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

Barnes Solicitors LLP

Claimed by Play · listed 13 days ago

13d

Age

since listed · listed for ransom

Status timeline

Listed
May 7, 2026

Current state: Listed for ransom

At a glance

Group: Play
Status: Listed for ransom
Sector: Legal
Listed on leak site: May 7, 2026

About the victim

AI dossier — public-source company profile

Barnes Solicitors LLP is a UK-based limited liability partnership operating as a solicitors' law firm. Based on the firm's name and sector classification, it provides legal services to individuals and/or businesses. No further detail is available from the leak post or a public site excerpt.

Industry: Legal Services (Solicitors / Law Firm)

Attack summary

Severity: medium — The victim is a law firm, which by nature holds privileged and sensitive client PII, financial, and legal records. However, the post is a listing-only disclosure with no confirmed exfiltration proof, no stated data size, and no published data inventory, preventing a 'critical' or 'high' rating despite the inherently sensitive nature of legal sector data.

The Play ransomware group has listed Barnes Solicitors LLP on its leak site, claiming the firm as a victim. No specific details regarding encryption, exfiltration volume, or data categories have been published in the truncated post.

medium

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: 97added: 2026-05-07publication date: 2026-05-11   | Accessoires Outillage Ltee👁️ views: 61added: 2026-05-07publication date: 2026-05-11   | K & E Distributing👁️ views: 68added: 2026-05-07publication date: 2026-05-11   |  
| Sokolin👁️ views: 7058   | Barnes Solicitors LLP👁️ views: 6979   | Witt UK Group👁️ views: 7980   |  
| Valley Plating Inc👁️ views: 7995   | Dock Pros👁️ views: 7977   | Kivells👁️ views: 7944   |  
| Specflue👁️ views: 7933   | Weber Kracht & Chellew👁️ views: 7977   | Lucky Look👁️ views: 8078   |

Sources

Leak posthttp://k7kg3jqxang3wh7hnmaiokchk7qoebupfgoik6rha6mjpzwupwtj25yd.onion/

Source

Indexed 13 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.