INC Ransom

THREAT ACTOR PROFILE

INC Ransom

INC Ransom is a double-extortion ransomware operation active since 2023 that targets healthcare, government and enterprise organizations. In 2026 it became the dominant actor exploiting a pair of SonicWall SMA 1000 zero-days, chaining them for unauthenticated root compromise of VPN appliances before stealing data and deploying ransomware.

Not attributed

Ransomware (cross-sector)

First seen

2023

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

INC Ransom and GOLD IONIC

INC Ransom is tracked under its own name and a couple of vendor labels. It is one entry among the ransomware groups in our database, and its edge-exploitation playbook overlaps with peers like Play.

GROUP PROFILE

Edge exploitation into double extortion

INC Ransom runs a double-extortion operation, stealing data and encrypting networks across healthcare, government, manufacturing and other sectors. Its ransomware code overlaps with the Lynx family.

Our record ties it to ransomware across sectors. In 2026 it rose to prominence by weaponizing SonicWall SMA 1000 zero-days before patches were available.

The group's standout is the SonicWall SMA chain: a pre-auth WebSocket proxy bypass paired with a path-traversal flaw gives unauthenticated, zero-click root access to VPN gateways, from which INC steals credentials and session data and pivots into Active Directory.

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

SonicWall zero-days into ransomware

The stages below come from INC Ransom 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

The INC encryptor and a SonicWall toolkit

Initial Access

CVES EXPLOITED

A SonicWall SMA 1000 zero-day chain

CVE-2026-21509

A Microsoft Office security bypass used to open the fileless chain in Operation Neusploit, and again in the PixyNetLoader intrusion chain. Both campaigns paired the exploit with spear-phishing from compromised accounts rather than mass exploitation.

CVE-2026-21509

INC Ransom

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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INC Ransom

IOC set, full IP, host and hash history.

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Showing a sample of recent indicators

Get the complete

INC Ransom

IOC set, full IP, host and hash history.

Unlock all the IOCs for Free

NOTABLE CAMPAIGNS

Dominating the SonicWall SMA zero-days

Recent reporting centers on INC's 2026 SonicWall campaign.

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.