8Base

THREAT ACTOR PROFILE

8Base

8Base was an aggressive double-extortion ransomware operation that emerged publicly in 2023, hitting small and medium businesses across many sectors. It ran a customized Phobos ransomware build with a business-like public persona, and although law enforcement seized its leak site, its tooling and infrastructure persist within the broader ransomware ecosystem.

Not attributed

Ransomware (SMB, cross-sector)

First seen

2022

Latest IOC

IP indicators

Hosts

SHA256 hashes

Posts

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Names and aliases

Group profile

Attack lifecycle

Malware and tooling

IOCs

Notable campaigns

NAMES AND ALIASES

8Base and the Phobos connection

8Base is tracked under its own name and a couple of vendor labels, with its encryptor built on Phobos. It is one entry among the ransomware brands we profile, and its seized infrastructure shows a shared backend with brands like BlackCat (ALPHV).

GROUP PROFILE

Double extortion against SMBs

8Base targeted small and medium-sized businesses across sectors in the US, Brazil, the UK and beyond, using double extortion and a professional-looking public persona with customer-support-style communication. It emerged in 2022 and became highly active through 2024.

Our record ties it to ransomware across many sectors. Analysis of its seized infrastructure found malware hashes shared across leak sites for ALPHV, BianLian, Knight and Play, pointing to shared tooling or a common backend across brands.

The operation's encryptor is a customized Phobos build appending the .8base extension, distributed via SmokeLoader and paired with SystemBC. After its leak site was seized in 2025, the brand went quiet, though its technical footprint remains.

Facts:

Initial Access

Russian Federation · GRU

Initial Access

Russian Federation · GRU

Initial Access

Russian Federation · GRU

Initial Access

Russian Federation · GRU

Victims reported in our records and posts:

ATTACK LIFECYCLE

SmokeLoader delivery into Phobos encryption

The stages below come from 8Base activity in posts we track on our IOC Hunter feed.

Initial Access

Spear-phishing remains the front door. In the 2026 campaign Hunt.io tracked as Operation Neusploit, APT28 sent convincing spear-phishing from already-compromised government accounts and abused a Microsoft Office security bypass (CVE-2026-21509) to kick off a fileless chain. A separate June 2026 cluster delivered the LameHug malware through spear-phishing ZIP archives using double-extension lures.

Initial Access

MALWARE AND TOOLING

A customized Phobos build

Initial Access

CVES EXPLOITED

8Base

IOCS FROM HUNT.IO PLATFORM

Latest IOCs

We currently track - IP indicators, - hosts, and - SHA256 hashes for Akira across - intelligence posts, with the most recent indicator dated -. The sample below is limited to indicators from the latest posts. It is not the full set.

Showing a sample of recent indicators

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8Base

IOC set, full IP, host and hash history.

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Showing a sample of recent indicators

Get the complete

8Base

IOC set, full IP, host and hash history.

Unlock all the IOCs for Free

NOTABLE CAMPAIGNS

A seized leak site and a shared backend

Recent reporting tracks 8Base's dormancy and its ecosystem links.

PixyNetLoader tracking

A clustering of roughly 90 loader samples across four sub-families from 2024 to 2026, with steganography and cloud C2, also linking to related APT28 tooling such as SlimAgent and Graphite.

PixyNetLoader tracking

A clustering of roughly 90 loader samples across four sub-families from 2024 to 2026, with steganography and cloud C2, also linking to related APT28 tooling such as SlimAgent and Graphite.

PixyNetLoader tracking

A clustering of roughly 90 loader samples across four sub-families from 2024 to 2026, with steganography and cloud C2, also linking to related APT28 tooling such as SlimAgent and Graphite.

PixyNetLoader tracking

A clustering of roughly 90 loader samples across four sub-families from 2024 to 2026, with steganography and cloud C2, also linking to related APT28 tooling such as SlimAgent and Graphite.