Hunters ransomware group
Hunters is one of the extortion operations we watch continuously. This page covers what is known about the group and the current state of its leak site, which we last saw change 1y ago.
Who they are
Hunters International is a ransomware group first identified in October 2023, believed to have taken over or rebranded from the now-defunct Hive ransomware operation. Shortly after its emergence, security researchers found significant code overlaps with Hive, suggesting that Hunters International either acquired Hive’s source code or involved former Hive developers. The group operates a double-extortion model—encrypting victim data and threatening to leak it on a Tor-based site. It has targeted organizations worldwide across healthcare, manufacturing, education, and government sectors. The ransomware is written in Rust, supports both Windows and Linux/ESXi environments, and appends extensions such as .locked to encrypted files. Initial access is typically obtained via compromised RDP credentials, phishing campaigns, or vulnerabilities in exposed systems.
Current status
Hunters's leak site is not answering. Sites go dark for infrastructure trouble, a deliberate quiet period, or a takedown, and a good number return weeks later under the same name, so the entry stays on the list either way.
The last change we recorded on it was 1y ago (17 Jul 2025 05:07 UTC).
Which organisations this group has named, and when, is part of the SINON platform rather than this page. Create an account to search it, or to be told automatically if a name you care about turns up.
Sectors targeted
This group does not state an industry on its site, so we have nothing reliable to report. Most crews are opportunistic rather than sector-specific in any case — they hit what they can reach.
Watching for your name
If Hunters posts your company, a supplier or a subsidiary, you want to hear it from us rather than from a journalist. SINON checks these sites continuously and alerts on the names you give it.
Start monitoring