U.S. Government Entity Paid Kairos $1 Million in Data-Theft Extortion Case

The Hacker News

July 4, 2026

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U.S. Government Entity Paid Kairos $1 Million in Data-Theft Extortion Case

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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