2 US Cybersecurity Experts Guilty of Extortion Scheme for ALPHV Ransomware

Can you trust your cybersecurity team? A recent federal case reveals how two US-based cybersecurity experts turned into affiliates for the BlackCat ransomware group, extorting over $1.2M in Bitcoin. Read the full story on their 2023 crime spree.

Two Americans who built their careers protecting companies from online threats have admitted to doing the exact opposite. Ryan Goldberg, 40, of Georgia, and Kevin Martin, 36, of Texas, pleaded guilty in a Florida federal court this week after they were caught using their professional skills to carry out a string of extortion attacks for the ALPHV (aka BlackCat) ransomware gang throughout 2023.

Millions in Ransom Collected

In December 2023, the FBI disrupted the ALPHV ransomware gang. Investigations revealed that Goldberg and Martin operated as “affiliates” for the group. This group uses a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) model, where the BlackCat developers provided the malicious software and the platform, while the affiliates (in ...