U.S. Government Entity Paid Kairos $1 Million in Data-Theft Extortion Case ^36.9%

The Hacker News - By Swati Khandelwal - 7/4/2026, 12:47 PM

Appeal to Authority 17.5% - Ambiguity (Equivocation) 14.6% - Hasty Generalization 13.9%

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.... more