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 7, 2023FOCUS Business Solutions listed by Blackbyteon the group's public leak site

Sector and geography

This disclosure adds to ransomware activity in the Business Services sector, which has 2,640 disclosures indexed across all operators we track. Geographically, FOCUS Business Solutions 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

FOCUS Business Solutions

Claimed by Blackbyte · listed 3 years ago

32m

Age

since listed · data leaked

Status timeline

Listed
Sep 7, 2023
Data leaked

At a glance

Group: Blackbyte
Status: Data leaked
Country: United States
Sector: Business Services
Listed on leak site: Sep 7, 2023

About the victim

AI dossier — public-source company profile

FOCUS Business Solutions is a U.S.-based firm founded in 1998 that provides customs management, compliance, and duty savings programs to importers and exporters. The company positions itself as a cost-effective partner for managing trade compliance within client budget constraints. It has maintained long-term client relationships over 25 years by offering responsive and flexible service.

Industry: Customs Compliance & Trade Management Services
Founded: 1998

Attack summary

Severity: high — Data has been published by the group, confirming exfiltration. The company handles sensitive trade compliance and financial duty data for importer/exporter clients, meaning third-party business and potentially regulated trade data is at risk at scale.

BlackByte claims to have attacked FOCUS Business Solutions and has published data (disclosed status: data_published), indicating exfiltration of company and potentially client-related information. No specific ransom amount or data volume was stated in the post.

high

Data the group says was taken

AI dossier — extracted from the leak post

Customs compliance program data
Client trade compliance records
Duty savings program documentation
Importer/exporter client information

What the group claims

FOCUS was founded in 1998 with the simple vision of delivering great cost savings and compliance services to importers and exporters at a fair price. Clients engage us to manage their compliance and duty savings programs within their limited budgets. Being highly responsive and flexible to meet the unique business and compliance needs of each of our clients is why clients have stayed with us for 25 years. We deliver the highest quality customs management and compliance services to our clients.

Sources

Victim sitefocus-solutions.net/

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.