Disclosure context

About BrainCipher

Braincipher is a recently emerged ransomware group that was first observed in July 2024, operating with apparent financial motivations and targeting organizations primarily across North America and Europe. The group's origin and potential affiliations remain largely undocumented by major threat intelligence organizations, though their targeting patterns suggest a broad opportunistic approach rather than nation-state backing, likely operating as an independent entity rather than through established ransomware-as-a-service infrastructure. Their attack methodology and specific technical capabilities have not been extensively documented by CISA, FBI, or major security research firms, though their victim distribution across 44 confirmed targets spanning business services, manufacturing, technology, and healthcare sectors indicates a generalist approach to target selection rather than sector-specific expertise. No major high-profile campaigns or significant law enforcement actions have been publicly documented against this group by reputable sources, suggesting either a relatively low-impact operational scale or insufficient intelligence collection on their activities. As of current reporting, the group's operational status remains unclear due to limited public documentation from established threat intelligence sources. The group has been linked to 56 public disclosures across our corpus. First observed on a leak site on July 1, 2024; most recent post May 13, 2026. The operation is currently active.

Also tracked as: brain cipher.

Timeline of this disclosure

May 11, 2026ice.org.uk listed by BrainCipheron the group's public leak site

Sector and geography

This disclosure adds to ransomware activity in the Education sector, which has 694 disclosures indexed across all operators we track. Geographically, ice.org.uk is reported in GB, a country with 309 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

ice.org.uk

Claimed by BrainCipher · listed 9 days ago

Age

since listed · data leaked

Status timeline

Listed
May 11, 2026
Data leaked

At a glance

Group: BrainCipher
Status: Data leaked
Country: GB
Sector: Education
Listed on leak site: May 11, 2026

About the victim

AI dossier — public-source company profile

ice.org.uk is the domain associated with the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), a UK-based professional membership body for civil engineers headquartered in London, England. ICE provides qualifications, knowledge resources, and policy advocacy for the civil engineering profession. It is one of the oldest and largest engineering institutions in the world, with a global membership base.

Industry: Professional Education & Membership Association

Attack summary

Severity: high — Over 1 TB of data is claimed to have been exfiltrated from a major professional membership body, likely containing member PII, financial records, and sensitive organisational data at significant scale; however no specific regulated data categories are confirmed and no proof files have been published yet.

BrainCipher claims to have exfiltrated more than 1 TB of data from ice.org.uk, with a deadline of 25 May 2026 for the victim to respond before further disclosure.

high

Data the group says was taken

AI dossier — extracted from the leak post

Exfiltrated organisational data (1 TB+)

Original description

AI-summarised, not from the leak post

ICE, the Institution of Civil Engineers, is a UK-based professional membership organisation founded in 1818. It supports civil engineers worldwide through qualifications, knowledge sharing, policy influence, and professional development. Headquartered in London, it operates across infrastructure, construction, and engineering sectors. ICE sets industry standards, accredits engineering programmes, and advocates for sustainable infrastructure development globally.

The leak post

captured from the group's site

We have more 1TB of data. If you think you are here by mistake, please contact us at [email protected]
⏳ Deadline: May 25, 2026 at 11:00

Sources

Victim siteice.org.uk
Leak posthttp://vkvsgl7lhipjirmz6j5ubp3w3bwvxgcdbpi3fsbqngfynetqtw4w5hyd.onion/n/ice-org-uk

Source

Indexed 9 days 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.