DisclosureLens
GLOBALMalwareTechnologyInformationRansomwareALPHVRansom DemandedActor NamedMedium

Autonomous Flight - @autonomousfly

bd_a6d9b2b5abbef3c7 · schema v1 · pii pii-v1

Severity

Medium

Discovered

Filed

Nov 19, 2023

To disclose

Affected

Not disclosed

Confidence

50%
Full breach record for Autonomous Flight - @autonomousfly

Threat-actor claim — not a regulatory filing

This row is a claim by the ransomware group ALPHV / BlackCat on its public extortion blog. It has not been validated by the victim or any regulator. Treat attribution and counts as the threat actor's assertion until a regulatory filing or victim disclosure corroborates them.

Group activity: TechnologyDiscovered: 2023-11-19

Source: Ransomware.live

Post text · scraped from the leak site

Incorporated in 2012, Autonomous Flight Technologies (AFT) began as a research and development firm specializing in manufacturing and progressing advancement for automated Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) for use in the United States. Originally based in Roanoke, Virginia; AFT has worked with numerous companies throughout the eastern seaboard as well as many colleges including Virginia Tech In October of 2015, AFT received an exemption status from the FAA to conduct commercial UAS operations throughout the United States. Our exemption, No. 13319; was approved for the following areas of work: Industrial Mapping, Agricultural Mapping, Research and Development, Emergency Response and Operations Training, sUAS Operator Training, Real Estate Photography and Cinematography, and Product Demonstrations. Since receiving our exemption status, AFT is committed to providing UAS flight operations for the above-mentioned industries. Our work has evolved our company into two basic departments: The first being a full audio and visual production company. We have provided production for college campuses, private corporations, professional design and cinematography firms and film companies, as well as news and media outlets. The second department is geared towards industry specific needs. Whether it being aggregate assessments, construction BIM progression and assessment, industrial inspection and mapping, engineering firms, SARS and emergency management evaluation, or agricultural inspection; we have yet to find a specific industry the does not benefit from the services we provide. Early in the beginning of 2016, AFT joined and supported fellow UAS industries along with Virginia Tech’s (VTTI) department to create a local AUVSI charter for the SWVA corridor. Since founded, Ridge & Valley AUVSI, has worked diligently with Gov. Terry McAuliffe to establish our SWVA as a “UAS Hotbed” advoca

Incident timeline — mostly unverified

? — ?

Breach window unknown

Nov 19, 2023

Claim posted

No filing yet · watching

Compliance clocks stay unassessable until a regulatory filing lands. Dashed segments fill in automatically when corroboration arrives.

Claim → filing

Compliance clock

Not assessable

Tracked as a single-filing incident — the only disclosure on record for this event so far.Unverified claimView incident

Evidence ladder

Leak-site claimThis record

Attacker assertion only. Establishes: claim date, group, alleged victim.

Press / market report

Unlocks: incident narrative, operational impact. Still no compliance clock.

State AG / regulator filing

Unlocks: discovery date, data types, affected count, compliance clock.

SEC 8-K / victim statement

Unlocks: materiality, stated response, full audit trail. Ceiling removed.

No regulatory filing corroborates this yet — it is the attacker's own assertion. Watch this entity to be notified the moment a filing corroborates or contradicts it.

Source ceiling

  • actor name
  • victim claim
  • ransom/leak status
  • discovery date
  • materiality
  • notification
  • affected count
  • confirmed data types
  • compliance clock

The ✕ fields stay blank until a regulatory filing or victim disclosure lands.

About this groupFirst seen 2021-09-09

alphv

According to ransomware.live, The operators of the ALPHV/BlackCat ransomware began their activity in December 2021, making posts on Dark Web forums to promote their affiliate program, offering other actors the opportunity to engage in a 'new type of ransomware family' developed from scratch using the Rust programming language. Some clear evidence indicates that the actors behind this new ransomware are not new to cybercrime, and there were links to other affiliate programs such as DarkSide, BlackMatter, and REvil. (After several attacks against large companies, these groups faced pressure and arrests, necessitating the termination of their operations). As a security measure, the operators of ALPHV implemented the requirement for the execution of the ransomware payload by providing an 'access token,' which is supplied by the owners of the Ransomware-as-a-Service to the affiliate. This token is added to the victim's ransom note so that they can contact the threat actor responsible for encrypting the data. ALPHV affiliates employ double and triple extortion techniques, meaning the publication of the company's name on leak sites, threats of data leakage, and lastly, threats of DDoS attacks against the organization. Source: https://github.com/crocodyli/ThreatActors-TTPs

731 victims claimed globally731 tracked hereFull profile →