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 18, 2023NASHUA SCHOOL DISTRICT listed by Royalon the group's public leak site

Data size: 728 GB

Sector and geography

This disclosure adds to ransomware activity in the Education sector, which has 694 disclosures indexed across all operators we track. Geographically, NASHUA SCHOOL DISTRICT 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

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NASHUA SCHOOL DISTRICT

Claimed by Royal · listed 3 years ago

728 GB

Data size

36m

Age

since listed · data leaked

Status timeline

Listed
May 18, 2023
Data leaked

At a glance

Group: Royal
Status: Data leaked
Country: United States
Sector: Education
Listed on leak site: May 18, 2023
Data size: 728 GB

About the victim

AI dossier — public-source company profile

Nashua School District is a public school district serving Nashua, New Hampshire, a city of approximately 88,000 residents. The district operates numerous elementary, middle, and high schools (including Nashua High School North and South) and provides a wide range of educational services to students and families. It is one of the larger public school districts in New Hampshire.

Industry: Public K-12 Education
Address: 141 Ledge Street, Nashua, NH 03060
Employees: 1001-5000

Attack summary

Severity: critical — 728 GB of confirmed exfiltrated data includes SSNs, passport information, and personal records of both minors (students) and employees — constituting regulated PII at scale, including data belonging to children, which triggers FERPA, COPPA, and state privacy obligations.

The Royal ransomware group claims to have exfiltrated 728 GB of data from the Nashua School District, including SSNs, passport documents, personal data forms for both employees and students, confidential documents, and a large number of databases, with the group stating the data will be published.

critical

Data the group says was taken

AI dossier — extracted from the leak post

Social Security Numbers (SSNs)
Passport documents
Employee personal data forms
Student personal data forms
Confidential documents
Databases

What the group claims

The Nashua, New Hampshire School District is a city of 88,000 residents with much to offer. Most notably, the City has a long tradition of supporting public education, both with resources and volunteers. The School District doesn't need it's 728GB of data containing SSNs, passports, forms with personal data both of employees and students. Confidential document and a crazy amount of databases will be uploaded here as well. Stay in touch.

Sources

Victim sitenashua.edu
Leak posthttp://royal4ezp7xrbakkus3oofjw6gszrohpodmdnfbe5e4w3og5sm7vb3qd.onion/TgLaULsbGIEIFx8feCqrCHQZU6TuvnWK

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.