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Play, also known as PlayCrypt and tracked by Symantec as Balloonfly, is a ransomware operation first observed in June 2022. It is widely described as a ransomware-as-a-service ecosystem and is known for double-extortion attacks in which operators exfiltrate data before encrypting systems and then threaten public release of stolen information through a leak site. The group has been associated with both big-game hunting and high-volume attacks against small and medium-sized organizations, including managed service providers and government entities. Play has targeted organizations heavily in North America and Europe, with victims across sectors including government, healthcare, financial services, retail, professional services, education, and information technology. Reporting also indicates earlier focus on Latin America, especially Brazil, before broader international expansion. Public victim counts place Play among the more active ransomware brands through 2023-2026. The group has repeatedly exploited public-facing systems for initial access, including Microsoft Exchange vulnerabilities such as CVE-2022-41080 and CVE-2022-41082 and Citrix Bleed (CVE-2023-4966). Intrusions have also involved VPN access using valid credentials, enabling rapid compromise and same-day ransomware deployment in some cases. After access, Play operators and affiliates have used remote administration and lateral movement tooling such as RDP and PsExec, and have conducted extensive internal reconnaissance to enumerate users, computers, trusted domains, permission groups, remote systems, installed software, backup products, and security tools. Play is notable for custom tooling that supports pre-encryption operations. Its Grixba tool has been used for network scanning, software and security-product discovery, and collection of environment data for later exfiltration. Another observed tool leverages Volume Shadow Copy Service snapshots to copy otherwise locked files prior to encryption. Reporting also links Play activity to log clearing and other defense-evasion behavior. The ransomware has been described as using intermittent or partial encryption to accelerate impact and reduce detection opportunities. Known aliases include Play, PlayCrypt, and Balloonfly. Available reporting also suggests the operation uses affiliates, and some incident-response observations indicate distinct affiliate clusters, including one suspected of concentrating on European victims.
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Who, where, and (when attributed) which flag flies behind the operation. Pulled from open-source reporting and Mallory's analyst review.
Sectors the actor has been observed targeting.
Geographies tied to known operations.
Attributed origin per open-source reporting.
46 distinct techniques observed across reporting, grouped by tactic. Hover any cell for the evidence excerpt; click through for MITRE's full description.
10 malware families attributed to this actor across reporting.
5 additional families tracked in Mallory.
16 CVEs this actor has used in observed campaigns. 16 of them exploited in the wild.
The Common Log File System (CLFS) 0-day vulnerability CVE-2025–29824 was confirmed to have been exploited by attackers associated with PLAY and Storm-2460, and according to Symantec, the vulnerability may have already fallen into the hands of multiple attackers and been exploited before it was patched.
Ember Bear ... CVE-2022-41040 ... in Microsoft Exchange... Play ... CVE-2022-41082 and CVE-2022-41040 ("ProxyNotShell") in Microsoft Exchange.
Play has exploited known vulnerabilities for initial access including ... CVE-2022-41082 and CVE-2022-41040 ("ProxyNotShell") in Microsoft Exchange.
multiple ransomware groups, including initial access brokers with ties to Play ransomware operators, are also exploiting three vulnerabilities - CVE-2024-57727 - in remote monitoring and management tool SimpleHelp to conduct remote code execution at many U.S.-based entities
Agrius exploits public-facing applications for initial access to victim environments. Examples include widespread attempts to exploit CVE-2018-13379 in FortiOS devices... APT29 has exploited ... CVE-2018-13379 for FortiGate VPNs... Dragonfly ... exploited ... CVE-2018-13379 for Fortinet VPNs... Magic Hound ... exploited ... Fortios SSL VPNs (CVE-2018-13379). Play ... including CVE-2018-13379 ... in FortiOS.
11 more CVEs tied to this actor tracked in Mallory.
76 indicators attributed to this actor: domains, IPs, hashes, and other artifacts pulled from reporting. View more in app.
20 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.
Conducting a ransomware attack against Sam Pack Auto Group.
Conducting a ransomware attack against Bridgeport Capital Services.
North America-only ransomware group using big game hunting alongside high-volume SMB attacks via exposed devices.
Ransomware group active in North America using big-game-hunting tactics alongside SMB targeting through exposed public-facing devices.
Match sector + geo + tech-stack targeting against your real footprint.
Every observed MITRE ATT&CK technique, grouped by tactic.
Families this actor is known to deploy, with IOCs and behavior.
CVEs this actor has used in known campaigns.
YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.
Domains, IPs, and hashes tied to this actor, refreshed continuously.