Government Pays $1 Million to Kairos for Stolen Data Extortion

A U.S. government entity paid $1 million to Kairos to keep stolen files from being leaked, demonstrating a shift in cyber extortion tactics away from traditional ransomware and encryption. The case highlights the use of data-theft extortion as a method of threat, focusing on data publication as the leverage.

A U.S. government entity paid about $1 million to keep stolen files from being leaked, according to a new case study by Rakesh Krishnan for Ransom-ISAC, built on a leaked negotiation chat and the blockchain trail the payment left.

The odd part: the group that took the money calls itself Kairos, but it may not be a ransomware gang at all. Krishnan found no sign that it ever locked a single

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