**Ryan Clifford Goldberg**, 40, a former incident response manager at **Sygnia**, and **Kevin Tyler Martin**, 36, a ransomware negotiator from **DigitalMint**, received four-year prison sentences each for their roles in **BlackCat** (**ALPHV**) ransomware attacks targeting U.S. businesses. ### Guilty Plea and Conspiracy Both **Goldberg** and **Martin** were initially charged in November and subsequently pleaded guilty in December to conspiracy to obstruct commerce by extortion. They collaborated with a third individual, **Angelo Martino**, 41, who also pleaded guilty in April. Together, they operated as **BlackCat** affiliates between May and November 2023, compromising multiple U.S. networks. ### Ransomware-as-a-Service According to court documents, the trio paid 20% of the ransom amounts to gain access to **BlackCat's** ransomware and extortion platform, effectively utilizing a Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) model. ### Victim Profile The victims spanned various sectors, including: * A Maryland pharmaceutical company * A Tampa medical device manufacturer * A California engineering firm * A Virginia drone manufacturer * A California doctor's office Prosecutors detailed how the Tampa medical device company paid $1.27 million after its servers were encrypted, following a $10 million ransom demand in May 2023. The payment was reportedly laundered and split among the three conspirators. Other victim companies received ransom demands ranging from $300,000 to $10 million, although it remains unclear whether additional payments were made. ### Official Statements "These defendants exploited specialized cybersecurity knowledge not to protect victims, but to extort them," stated U.S. Attorney **Jason A. Reding Quiñones**. "They used ransomware to lock down critical systems, steal sensitive data, and pressure American businesses into paying to regain access to their own information." **DigitalMint** CEO **Jonathan Solomon** condemned the actions of the former employees: "We strongly condemn these former employees' criminal behavior, which violated our values, ethical standards, and the law. When we learned about the conduct, we immediately terminated both individuals." ### BlackCat's Impact The **FBI** has previously linked the **BlackCat** ransomware gang to over 60 breaches between November 2021 and March 2022. A separate advisory revealed that the group amassed at least $300 million in ransom payments from over 1,000 victims through September 2023.  <div> <h2><a rel="noopener nofollow" href="https://hubs.li/Q04crVgD0">99% of What Mythos Found Is Still Unpatched.</a></h2> <p>AI chained four zero-days into one exploit that bypassed both renderer and OS sandboxes. A wave of new exploits is coming.</p> <p>At the Autonomous Validation Summit (May 12 &amp; 14), see how autonomous, context-rich validation finds what's exploitable, proves controls hold, and closes the remediation loop.</p> <p><a rel="noopener nofollow" href="https://hubs.li/Q04crVgD0">Claim Your Spot</a></p> </div>