Disclosure context

About Royal

Royal is a financially motivated ransomware group that emerged in November 2022, quickly establishing itself as a significant threat with over 200 documented victims across multiple sectors. The group is believed to operate independently rather than as a ransomware-as-a-service model, though their exact country of origin remains unclear based on publicly available intelligence. Royal primarily gains initial access through phishing campaigns and exploitation of remote desktop protocols, subsequently deploying custom ransomware that encrypts victim files while exfiltrating sensitive data for double extortion tactics. The group has demonstrated a preference for targeting critical infrastructure and public services, with notable attacks against educational institutions, healthcare facilities, and government entities primarily in the United States, though they have also significantly impacted organizations across Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, and France. Their encryption methodology involves custom-built malware that systematically encrypts files while maintaining persistence on compromised networks. As of recent reporting from federal agencies including CISA and FBI advisories, Royal remains an active threat with ongoing campaigns targeting organizations across their preferred sectors, particularly focusing on entities with limited cybersecurity resources that may be more likely to pay ransom demands. The group has been linked to 211 public disclosures across our corpus. First observed on a leak site on November 4, 2022; most recent post July 19, 2023. The operation is currently inactive.

Timeline of this disclosure

May 26, 2023The Best Connection listed by Royalon the group's public leak site

Data size: 1.4 TB

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, The Best Connection is reported in United Kingdom, a country with 902 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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The Best Connection

Claimed by Royal · listed 3 years ago

1.4 TB

Data size

36m

Age

since listed · data leaked

Status timeline

Listed
May 26, 2023
Data leaked

At a glance

Group: Royal
Status: Data leaked
Country: United Kingdom
Sector: Business Services
Listed on leak site: May 26, 2023
Data size: 1.4 TB

About the victim

AI dossier — public-source company profile

The Best Connection is one of the UK's leading independent providers of temporary staffing and flexible workforce solutions, headquartered in Bromsgrove, United Kingdom. With over 35 years of experience, it serves clients across driving, industrial, warehouse & distribution, and retail sectors. The company operates multiple branches across the UK and supports a large community of temporary workers.

Industry: Temporary Staffing & Workforce Solutions
Address: Bromsgrove, United Kingdom
Employees: 1001-5000

Attack summary

Severity: critical — 1.4 TB of exfiltrated and published data from a large UK staffing agency likely contains substantial PII at scale — including personal details of temporary workers, employees, and client organisations — meeting the threshold for critical severity under regulated data exposure.

The Royal ransomware group claims to have exfiltrated 1.4 TB of data from The Best Connection, with the disclosure status indicating data has been published. No ransom amount was stated.

critical

Data the group says was taken

AI dossier — extracted from the leak post

Employee records
Temporary worker personal data
Client business data
Recruitment and staffing records
Potentially payroll and financial records

What the group claims

Headquartered in Bromsgrove, United Kingdom, The Best Connection is a independent provider of flexible workforce solutions to the driving, industrial, warehouse & distribution and retail sectors.Total downloaded data - 1.4tb

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.