Disclosure context

About Icefire

IceFire is a ransomware operation that emerged in August 2022, primarily motivated by financial gain through extortion campaigns targeting various organizations. The group operates as an independent ransomware family with suspected ties to Russian-speaking cybercriminals, though definitive attribution remains unclear. IceFire employs double extortion tactics, stealing sensitive data before deploying their ransomware payload, and has been observed using various initial access methods including exploiting known vulnerabilities in internet-facing applications and services. The ransomware utilizes strong encryption algorithms to lock victim files and threatens to publish stolen data on leak sites if ransom demands are not met. While the group has maintained a relatively low profile compared to other major ransomware operations, security researchers have documented approximately 11 confirmed victims across different sectors since their emergence. IceFire remains active as of current intelligence reporting, continuing to evolve their tactics and target organizations globally. The group has been linked to 11 public disclosures across our corpus. First observed on a leak site on August 20, 2022. The operation is currently inactive.

Timeline of this disclosure

August 20, 2022*.directfn.net listed by Icefireon the group's public leak site

Sector and geography

This disclosure adds to ransomware activity in the Financial Services sector, which has 516 disclosures indexed across all operators we track. Geographically, *.directfn.net is reported in United Arab Emirates.

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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DirectFN

listed as *.directfn.net · Claimed by Icefire · listed 4 years ago

45m

Age

since listed · data leaked

Status timeline

Listed
Aug 20, 2022
Data leaked

At a glance

Group: Icefire
Status: Data leaked
Country: United Arab Emirates
Sector: Financial Services
Listed on leak site: Aug 20, 2022

About the victim

AI dossier — public-source company profile

DirectFN is a financial technology company operating under the domain directfn.net, based in the United Arab Emirates. The company provides capital markets data, trading platforms, and financial information services to brokers, banks, and financial institutions across the MENA region and beyond. It is a well-known fintech provider in the Middle East serving institutional and retail financial sector clients.

Industry: Financial Technology & Capital Markets Data Services

Attack summary

Severity: high — DirectFN operates in the financial technology and capital markets sector, serving institutional clients across the MENA region. A confirmed data_published status in financial services implies likely exfiltration of sensitive business or client data, warranting a high severity classification even without granular proof details.

The IceFire ransomware group claims an attack against DirectFN, with the disclosure status recorded as data_published, suggesting exfiltration and/or publication of data. No specific details on the nature or volume of stolen data are available from the captured leak post.

high

Sources

Victim sitedirectfn.net

Source

Indexed 4 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.