Disclosure context

About Karakurt

Karakurt is a ransomware group that emerged in December 2022, operating primarily as a data extortion threat actor with financial motivations rather than traditional file encryption. The group's origin and affiliations remain largely undocumented by major cybersecurity agencies, though their operational patterns suggest they function as an independent entity rather than a confirmed ransomware-as-a-service operation. Karakurt employs data theft and extortion tactics, focusing on exfiltrating sensitive information from victim networks before demanding payment under threat of public disclosure, representing a pure extortion model that bypasses traditional encryption-based ransomware approaches. The group has targeted 74 known victims across multiple sectors, with particular focus on healthcare, education, manufacturing, energy, and professional services organizations, primarily affecting entities in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Singapore, and India. Based on available reporting from established cybersecurity agencies and researchers, Karakurt appears to remain active as of recent assessments, though comprehensive intelligence on their specific attack vectors, tools, and major campaigns remains limited in publicly documented sources from CISA, FBI, and major security research organizations. The group has been linked to 74 public disclosures across our corpus. First observed on a leak site on December 11, 2022; most recent post September 22, 2023. The operation is currently inactive.

Timeline of this disclosure

August 31, 2023Valley Mountain Regional Center listed by Karakurton the group's public leak site

Data size: 147 GB

Sector and geography

This disclosure adds to ransomware activity in the Healthcare sector, which has 1,779 disclosures indexed across all operators we track. Geographically, Valley Mountain Regional Center 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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Valley Mountain Regional Center

Claimed by Karakurt · listed 3 years ago

147 GB

Data size

33m

Age

since listed · data leaked

Status timeline

Listed
Aug 31, 2023
Data leaked

At a glance

Group: Karakurt
Status: Data leaked
Country: United States
Sector: Healthcare
Listed on leak site: Aug 31, 2023
Data size: 147 GB

About the victim

AI dossier — public-source company profile

Valley Mountain Regional Center (VMRC) is a California regional center that provides services and support to children and adults with developmental disabilities across Amador, Calaveras, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, and Tuolumne Counties. It offers programs spanning early childhood through adulthood, including self-determination, school-age, and foster grandparent initiatives. The organization operates under California's Lanterman Act framework and is subject to state Department of Developmental Services oversight.

Industry: Developmental Disability Services / Social Services
Address: Modesto, CA (serves Amador, Calaveras, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, and Tuolumne Counties, California)

Attack summary

Severity: critical — The breach involves confirmed exfiltration of highly sensitive regulated data at scale — medical records and SSNs of a vulnerable population (individuals with developmental disabilities), plus identity documents and financial records — totalling 147 GB, meeting the threshold for critical severity.

The Karakurt group claims to have exfiltrated 147 GB of data from Valley Mountain Regional Center, including medical records, passports, Social Security numbers, accounting records, and financial documents, with publication described as imminent.

critical

Data the group says was taken

AI dossier — extracted from the leak post

Medical records
Passport documents
Social Security Numbers (SSNs)
Accounting records
Financial documents

What the group claims

Valley Mountain Regional Center is a private company that serves children and adults with developmental disabilities. Data: 147GB (medical record, passports, SSNs, accounting, financial documents).Soon.

Sources

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.