US cybersecurity professionals plead guilty to Blackcat ransomware attacks

• Two ex-cybersecurity professionals pleaded guilty to ALPHV ransomware extortion attempts
• They extorted $1.2M from a medical device firm; other attempts failed
• Facing federal charges with possible 20-year prison sentences; sentencing set for March 12, 2026

The two cybersecurity experts that were accused of affiliating with ransomware operators have pleaded guilty to at least one successful extortion attempt, as well as a few unsuccessful ones.

In early November this year, news broke of three cybersecurity professionals being suspected of working as affiliates for the dreaded ALPHV (BlackCat) ransomware gang, deploying encryptors against multiple US organizations.

Back then, a US federal indictment filed in the Southern District of Florida claimed two defendants - Ryan Clifford Goldberg of Georgia, and Kevin Tyler Martin of Texas, together with a third co-conspirator, hacked into company networks, stole data, encrypted it with ALPHV ransomware, and demanded cryptocurrency ransoms.