{"id":61044,"date":"2026-07-09T22:30:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T22:30:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theregister.com\/a\/5269575"},"modified":"2026-07-09T22:30:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T22:30:21","slug":"an-unnamed-us-county-perhaps-in-ohio-paid-1m-extortion-demand-to-cybercriminals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/an-unnamed-us-county-perhaps-in-ohio-paid-1m-extortion-demand-to-cybercriminals\/","title":{"rendered":"An unnamed US county \u2013 perhaps in Ohio \u2013 paid $1M extortion demand to cybercriminals"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

A US county reportedly paid $1 million to Kairos, an extortion gang that claimed to have stolen more than 2 TB of data, but the county never received independently verifiable proof that the stolen files had been deleted – just the criminals’ promise.<\/p>\n

This means the county\u2019s stolen files may turn up for sale on a dark web forum, and the same (or another) crime crew could again demand an extortion payment to not leak the data.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also a reminder that, despite the feds urging victims not to pay cybercriminals, sometimes coughing up the ransom<\/a> demand seems to be the lesser of evils.<\/p>\n

The alleged incident played out in May and June 2025, according to a case study<\/a> by threat-intel researcher Rakesh Krishnan on Ransom-ISAC, a global knowledge-sharing platform for defenders and incident responders. <\/p>\n

Krishnan based his report on a leaked transcript of the negotiations between the county and Kairos, along with attacker-provided artifacts and screenshots, and payment-tracing evidence on the blockchain.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t name the ransomware negotiator, citing privacy concerns, nor does it identify the victim, describing it as a US government entity.<\/p>\n

Communications between the attackers and the public agency, however, suggest it\u2019s a US county, including this one following the attackers\u2019 initial $3 million demand: <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have reviewed the situation with our leadership and financial teams. As a small county with very limited resources, we simply do not have the ability to meet the amount you have proposed. That said, we understand the seriousness of the matter and want to work toward a resolution. The most we have been able to identify at this time is $100,000. We respectfully ask that you consider this offer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
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MORE CONTEXT<\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Additionally, one of the allegedly stolen documents, “Media Release – Motorcycle Crash Claims the Life of Dublin Resident 9-10-2020.pdf,” indicates that there\u2019s a city of Dublin inside the county\u2019s boundaries.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s worth noting that the city of Dublin, Ohio, spans four counties in that state: Union, Franklin, Delaware, and Madison. And last fall, Union County, Ohio disclosed<\/a> a May 2025 \u201cransomware attack that involved unauthorized access to and acquisition of protected personal information held by the County.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the cyber-incident notice, the intruders accessed Union County networks from May 6, 2025 through May 18, 2025 and stole data including people\u2019s names, Social Security numbers, driver\u2019s license\/state identification card numbers, financial account information, dates of birth, fingerprint information, medical information, payment card information, and passport numbers.<\/p>\n

The disclosure doesn\u2019t say anything about paying a $1 million ransom, nor does it name the attacker.<\/p>\n

The Register<\/span> reached out to county officials and law enforcement and asked if Union County is the government entity described in the Ransom-ISAC report. We will update this story if we receive any response.<\/p>\n

The FBI declined to comment.<\/p>\n

We should also note that there\u2019s no indication this was a ransomware attack, as the attackers didn\u2019t claim to encrypt any data or provide a decryptor in exchange for payment. Plus, as Krishnan says, security researchers have not obtained, or linked to Kairos, any ransomware sample, encryptor, or locker binary.<\/p>\n

What we do know, based on the transcript and Kairos\u2019 data-leak site, is that the miscreants claimed to steal more than 2TB of data, totaling about 1.6 million files.<\/p>\n

‘You are wasting our time with such offers’<\/h3>\n

After listing the victim county on their name-and-shame blog, Kairos demanded $3 million. \u201cWe will give you the full list of files we have and give you some time to study it,\u201d the crims told the victim. \u201cYou can choose up to 10 files from this list and we will send them to you. In order to prevent the publication of data you need to pay 3000000$.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the transcript, county officials reviewed the files during the last week of May 2025, and made the first counteroffer of $100,000 on June 4, 2025.<\/p>\n

Kairos responded: \u201cYou are wasting our time with such offers.We cant accept it.Your files will be a great advertisement on our site and we understand what terrible consequences will await you. You cant hide the data leak.You have two more days to make us a favorable offer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two days later, the county increased its offer to $255,000. Kairos reduced its demand to $2 million, and on June 9, 2025, the county proposed paying $430,000.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a small county and limited resources, we are doing our best to navigate this within what is financially feasible for us,\u201d the leaked negotiations say. \u201cThat said, we are committed to finding a resolution and have taken steps internally to increase our offer to $430,000. This reflects a sincere attempt to make progress despite our constraints. We ask that you consider this proposal as part of a continued effort to resolve the matter in a constructive and timely manner.\u201d<\/p>\n

That same day, both parties settled on $1 million, Kairos provided a Bitcoin payment wallet and the county requested a few deliverables in exchange for the payment: \u201cPlease confirm for $1,000,000 you will provide us with: proof of deletion, a complete list of all files taken, and tell us how you got in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kairos claimed to have gained initial access by bruteforcing their way into the network, shared an RAR file that they claimed provided \u201cproof of deletion of all downloaded files,\u201d and a promise: \u201cWe also guarantee that we will not share the downloaded data with third parties, and we also guarantee that we will not attack you again.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, as Krishnan notes, \u201cthe transcript does not show a technical mechanism by which deletion could be independently verified, which remains a fundamental limitation in ransom-payment scenarios.\u201d<\/p>\n

To pay, or not to pay?<\/h3>\n

It\u2019s also one of the reasons why both the FBI and US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency urge victims not to pay criminals. <\/p>\n

\u201cPaying a ransom doesn\u2019t guarantee you or your organization will get any data back,\u201d according to the FBI. \u201cIt also encourages perpetrators to target more victims and offers an incentive for others to get involved in this type of illegal activity.\u201d<\/p>\n

While there is no outright ransom-payment ban at the US federal government level, two states – North Carolina and Florida<\/a> – explicitly prohibit public agencies from paying extortion demands, and others have proposed similar legislation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Register<\/span> has discussed the topic of a ransomware-payment ban<\/a> with many experts<\/a> over the years, and while they mostly agree that the only way to eliminate attacks is to cut off the financial incentive<\/a> for the criminals, they also typically say a total payment ban won\u2019t work<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cComplex problems are rarely solved with binary solutions, and ransomware is no different,\u201d Sezaneh Seymour, VP and head of regulatory risk and policy at Coalition, told us in an earlier interview<\/a>. \u201cA payment ban will backfire because it doesn’t address the root cause of our national problem: widespread digital insecurity.\u201d \u00ae<\/p>\n

READ MORE HERE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Leaked negotiations spill the tea READ MORE HERE…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61045,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[1047],"class_list":["post-61044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-register","tag-cyber-crime"],"yoast_head":"\nAn unnamed US county \u2013 perhaps in Ohio \u2013 paid $1M extortion demand to cybercriminals 2026 | ThreatsHub Cybersecurity News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"ThreatsHub Cybersecurity News | ThreatsHub.org | Cloud Security & Cyber Threats Analysis Hub. 100% Free OSINT Threat Intelligent and Cybersecurity News.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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