Black Basta is a financially motivated ransomware group that emerged in April 2022 and has since compromised approximately 800 organizations worldwide. The group operates as a Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) model with suspected ties to the now-defunct Conti ransomware operation, though their exact country of origin remains unconfirmed by law enforcement agencies. Black Basta primarily gains initial access through phishing campaigns, exploitation of known vulnerabilities, and credential stuffing attacks, subsequently deploying their custom ransomware that employs ChaCha20 encryption algorithm and employs double extortion tactics by exfiltrating sensitive data before encryption and threatening to publish it on their leak site if ransom demands are not met. The group has demonstrated a preference for targeting organizations in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, and Italy, with a particular focus on business services, manufacturing, technology, healthcare, and agriculture sectors. Notable victims have included various healthcare systems and manufacturing companies, though specific ransom amounts and high-profile attacks have not been widely disclosed in public law enforcement advisories. As of 2024, Black Basta remains an active threat with continued operations and regular updates to their leak site indicating ongoing compromise activities. The group has been linked to 800 public disclosures across our corpus. First observed on a leak site on April 26, 2022; most recent post January 11, 2025. The operation is currently inactive.
Also tracked as: BlackBasta.
Sector and geography
This disclosure adds to ransomware activity in the Agriculture and Food Production sector, which has 536 disclosures indexed across all operators we track. Geographically, avril.ca is reported in Canada, a country with 810 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.
