Disclosure context

About play

**Overview:** Play (also known as PlayCrypt) is a financially motivated ransomware group that emerged in late 2022, conducting targeted attacks against organizations across multiple sectors with a focus on financial extortion. **Origin & Affiliation:** The group's country of origin remains unclear based on public reporting, though they appear to operate independently rather than as a traditional ransomware-as-a-service model. **Attack Methodology:** Play ransomware operators typically gain initial access through compromised Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) credentials and exploit valid accounts, then move laterally through networks using tools like Cobalt Strike before deploying their custom ransomware payload. The group employs double extortion tactics, stealing sensitive data before encryption and threatening to publish it on their leak site if ransom demands are not met. **Notable Campaigns:** According to CISA advisories, Play has targeted over 300 entities globally since its emergence, with significant impacts on critical infrastructure sectors including healthcare, education, and government services, though specific ransom amounts and individual victim details vary in public reporting. **Current Status:** Play remains an active threat as of 2024, continuing to target organizations primarily in North America and Europe according to ongoing security researcher observations and law enforcement warnings. The group has been linked to 1,276 public disclosures across our corpus. First observed on a leak site on November 26, 2022; most recent post May 20, 2026. The operation is currently active.

Also tracked as: PlayCrypt.

Timeline of this disclosure

May 19, 2026Zuther Hautmann listed by playon the group's public leak site

Sector and geography

This disclosure adds to ransomware activity in the Not Found sector, which has 4,859 disclosures indexed across all operators we track. Geographically, Zuther Hautmann is reported in DE, a country with 333 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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Zuther Hautmann

Claimed by play · listed 2 days ago

Age

since listed · data leaked

Status timeline

Listed
May 19, 2026
Data leaked

At a glance

Group: play
Status: Data leaked
Country: DE
Sector: Not Found
Listed on leak site: May 19, 2026

About the victim

AI dossier — public-source company profile

Zuther Hautmann is a German firm operating under the domain z-h.de. Based on the name structure, it appears to be a professional services partnership, likely legal or consulting, located in Germany. No public site content was available to confirm further details.

Industry: Professional Services (Legal or Consulting)

Attack summary

Severity: high — Data has been published by the Play group (disclosed status: data_published), confirming exfiltration. Play is known for exfiltrating sensitive business and client data before publishing; even without a stated data size, publication of data elevates severity to high.

The Play ransomware group claims to have attacked Zuther Hautmann and has published data ('data_published' status), suggesting exfiltration of company data, though no specific data volume or ransom demand was stated in the post.

high

Data the group says was taken

AI dossier — extracted from the leak post

Internal business documents
Potentially client records
Employee data

What the group claims

United States

The leak post

captured from the group's site

PLAY NEWS PLAY PLAY NEWS CONTACT FAQ Play ransomware HAS NEVER PROVIDED AND DOES NOT PROVIDE THE RaaS , read the FAQ page. WE NEVER WRITES FIRST, IF SOMEONE WRITES TO YOU, THEY ARE SCAMMERS. If we have not responded to you by email within 12 hours, please leave your contact information on the website in the contact tab. Zuther Hautmann &nbsp;United States &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;www.z-h.de &#128065;&#65039; views: 94 added: 2026-05-19 publication date: 2026-05-24 5 DAYS BEFORE PUBLICATION DURAND-WAYLAND &nbsp;United States &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;www.durand-wayland.com &#128065;&#65039; views: 1232 added: 2026-05-12 publication date: 2026-05-16 PUBLISHED Ashcroft Homes &nbsp;Canada &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;www.ashcrofthomes.ca &#128065;&#65039; views: 1267 added: 2026-05-12 publication date: 2026-05-16 PUBLISHED IWC Food Service &nbsp;United States &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;www.goiwc.com &#128065;&#65039; views: 1259 added: 2026-05-12 publication date: 2026-05-16 PUBLISHED ACC Construction &nbsp;United States &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;www.acc-construction.com &#128065;&#65039; views: 1253 added: 2026-05-12 publication date: 2026-05-16 PUBLISHED Northern Mec…

Sources

Victim sitewww.z-h.de
Leak posthttp://j75o7xvvsm4lpsjhkjvb4wl2q6ajegvabe6oswthuaubbykk4xkzgpid.onion/topic.php?id=Xs2yUnKYW9lmuQ

Source

Indexed 2 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.