Disclosure context

About Payloadbin

Payloadbin is a relatively obscure ransomware group that emerged in September 2021, primarily motivated by financial gain through extortion operations targeting diverse sectors across multiple countries. The group's origin and potential affiliations remain largely undocumented in public threat intelligence reporting, with limited information available regarding whether they operate as an independent entity or utilize a Ransomware-as-a-Service model. Based on observed victim patterns, Payloadbin has demonstrated a broad targeting approach without apparent sector specialization, though they have notably impacted healthcare, manufacturing, agriculture and food production, and telecommunications organizations across 48 documented cases. Their attack methodology and specific technical capabilities have not been extensively documented by major security research organizations, though their operational pattern suggests standard ransomware deployment tactics. The group has primarily targeted victims in the United States, Philippines, Australia, Mexico, and the United Kingdom, indicating either a broad opportunistic approach or potential linguistic capabilities spanning English-speaking regions and select international markets. No major high-profile campaigns, significant law enforcement disruptions, or notable ransomware payment records have been publicly attributed to this group by federal agencies or established threat intelligence firms. Current operational status remains unclear due to limited public documentation, though the group's relatively recent emergence and modest victim count suggests they may represent a smaller-scale operation compared to prominent ransomware families tracked by CISA and FBI reporting. The group has been linked to 48 public disclosures across our corpus. First observed on a leak site on September 9, 2021; most recent post March 26, 2026. The operation is currently active.

Timeline of this disclosure

October 16, 2021www.lockslaw.com listed by Payloadbinon 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. Geographically, www.lockslaw.com 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

Locks Law Firm

listed as www.lockslaw.com · Claimed by Payloadbin · listed 5 years ago

55m

Age

since listed · data leaked

Status timeline

Listed
Oct 16, 2021
Data leaked

At a glance

Group: Payloadbin
Status: Data leaked
Country: United States
Sector: Legal
Listed on leak site: Oct 16, 2021

About the victim

AI dossier — public-source company profile

Locks Law Firm is a nationally renowned personal injury law firm founded by Gene Locks, with offices in New York, New Jersey, and Philadelphia. The firm handles cases across dangerous drugs and devices, medical malpractice, environmental and toxic torts, consumer class actions, and other personal injury matters. It has recovered over $2 billion in verdicts and settlements for its clients.

Industry: Personal Injury & Class Action Law
Address: Offices in New York, New Jersey, and Philadelphia (specific street addresses not stated in available text)

Attack summary

Severity: critical — Locks Law Firm handles highly sensitive personal injury, medical malpractice, and class action cases, meaning exfiltrated data is likely to contain medical records, PII at scale, and attorney-client privileged communications. The disclosed status is data_published, confirming data exfiltration and release of regulated/sensitive data.

The Payloadbin ransomware group claims an attack against Locks Law Firm and the disclosure status is listed as data_published, indicating exfiltration and/or publication of data. No further details on the specific data claimed or volume are available from the captured leak post.

critical

Data the group says was taken

AI dossier — extracted from the leak post

Client legal case files
Personally identifiable information (PII)
Medical records and documentation
Settlement and verdict financial data
Attorney-client privileged communications

Sources

Victim sitelockslaw.com

Source

Indexed 5 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.