Was Bechstein hit by ransomware?

Bechstein was listed by the Avoslocker ransomware operation (Germany), and stolen data was published on the group's leak site. Darkfield tracks this disclosure with the original leak post, screenshot and group context.

Who is the Avoslocker ransomware group?

Avoslocker is a ransomware operator tracked by Darkfield. See the full operator dossier for its known victims, sectors targeted, IOCs and leak-site infrastructure.

What data was leaked in the Bechstein breach?

Avoslocker published data attributed to Bechstein. Darkfield captured the leak post and a screenshot of the listing.

Ransomware victim disclosure

← All victims

C. Bechstein Pianofortefabrik AG

listed as Bechstein · Claimed by Avoslocker · listed 4 years ago

43m

Age

since listed · data leaked

Status timeline

ListedDec 26, 2022
Data leakeddate unknown

At a glance

Group: Avoslocker
Status: Data leaked
Country: Germany
Sector: Manufacturing
Listed on leak site: Dec 26, 2022

About the victim

AI dossier — public-source company profile

C. Bechstein Pianofortefabrik AG is a German manufacturer of high-end grand and upright pianos, founded in 1853 and headquartered in Berlin. The company is internationally recognised for its premium-quality instruments and operates production facilities in Germany and the Czech Republic. It sells through a global network of dealerships and its own retail centres.

Industry: Musical Instrument Manufacturing (Pianos)
Address: Kantstraße 17, 10623 Berlin, Germany
Employees: 201-500
Founded: 1853

Attack summary

Severity: high — Disclosed status is 'data_published', confirming actual exfiltration and publication of data from a well-known private manufacturing company, representing significant business data exposure even without explicit enumeration of regulated data categories.

AvosLocker claims to have attacked C. Bechstein and the disclosure status indicates data has been published, suggesting exfiltration of company data; the leak post does not specify the volume or precise categories of data stolen.

high

Data the group says was taken

AI dossier — extracted from the leak post

Internal business documents
Corporate files

What the group claims

Top quality since 1853: the C. Bechstein name is synonymous with exquisite grand and upright pianos made in Germany.

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.

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Disclosure context

About Avoslocker

**Overview**: AvosLocker is a financially motivated ransomware group that emerged in June 2021, operating as both a Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) platform and conducting direct attacks against organizations worldwide. The group has demonstrated sophisticated capabilities and has targeted over 70 victims across multiple critical sectors. **Origin & Affiliation**: While the exact country of origin remains unclear, AvosLocker operates as a RaaS model, recruiting affiliates to conduct attacks using their ransomware payload and infrastructure. The group has shown no clear ties to state-sponsored activities, appearing to be purely profit-driven cybercriminals. **Attack Methodology**: AvosLocker typically gains initial access through compromised Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) credentials, VPN vulnerabilities, and phishing campaigns, subsequently deploying tools like Cobalt Strike for lateral movement and persistence. The group employs double extortion tactics, stealing sensitive data before encrypting systems and threatening to publish the information on their leak site if ransom demands are not met. Their ransomware uses strong encryption algorithms and includes capabilities to terminate security processes and delete shadow copies to prevent recovery. **Notable Campaigns**: The group has particularly targeted critical infrastructure sectors including education, manufacturing, finance, healthcare, and transportation, with significant attacks reported against organizations in the United States, Germany, Singapore, Canada, and France. CISA and FBI have issued joint advisories warning about AvosLocker's targeting of critical infrastructure, highlighting the group's impact on essential services. **Current Status**: As of recent threat intelligence reporting, AvosLocker remains active, continuing to recruit affiliates and conduct ransomware operations against organizations globally. The group has been linked to 70 public disclosures across our corpus. First observed on a leak site on June 13, 2021; most recent post February 11, 2023. The operation is currently inactive.

Also tracked as: Avos.

Timeline of this disclosure

December 26, 2022Bechstein listed by Avoslockeron the group's public leak site

Other recent disclosures by Avoslocker

Avoslocker has been linked to 70 public victims on Darkfield. A sample of the most recent:

See the full Avoslocker dossier →

Sector and geography

This disclosure adds to ransomware activity in the Manufacturing sector, which has 3,681 disclosures indexed across all operators we track. Geographically, Bechstein is reported in Germany, a country with 926 ransomware disclosures in our corpus.

If your organisation is affected

A listing by Avoslocker means Bechstein appeared on a ransomware extortion site and data attributed to it has been published. If this is your organisation, or a supplier you depend on, the priority is to confirm the intrusion and contain it before the window to act closes.

Engage your incident-response team and preserve forensic evidence before remediating — do not wipe affected systems first.
Force a password reset and revoke active sessions for exposed accounts; rotate any credentials, API keys or certificates that may have been in the stolen data.
Assess regulatory notification duties (GDPR, NIS2, sector regulators) — many carry a 72-hour reporting clock from awareness.
Report the incident to your national CERT, CERT-Bund (Germany), as required for your jurisdiction.
Monitor for the data appearing on Avoslocker's leak site and across paste and breach channels, and brief downstream partners who may be exposed through you.

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.