Loading story…
Investigators have mapped the threat persona Rey as a persistent operator tied to the HellCat ecosystem, linking the identity across BreachForums, Telegram, paste sites, and leaked forum records. The reporting connects Rey to the older alias Hikki-Chan and to Telegram handles including @wristmug and @wristller, with one key artifact coming from a BreachForums staff application in which the actor reportedly wrote, “I’m Rey, also known as Hikki-Chan.” Another forum artifact reportedly labeled the same account identifier as a HELLCAT Administrator, strengthening claims that Rey was more than a short-lived forum nickname.
The investigation also found behavioral and financial traces that suggest continuity rather than a one-off alias, including recurring phrases, reused profile imagery, historical Telegram snapshots, and repeated references such as nohello.net. Researchers said associated Bitcoin and Ethereum activity appeared limited in value, indicating monetization more consistent with data sales and forum-based criminal activity than large-scale ransomware extortion. Separate reporting on HellCat’s operators has similarly focused on unmasking Rey and Pryx, reinforcing the view that Rey is an enduring, cross-platform persona with sustained links to the group, while some newer alias and wallet associations remain unconfirmed.
TTPs, infrastructure, and targeting history in one profile.
6 events from the most recent confirmed update back to the earliest known activity.
StealthMole published a report concluding that Rey is a persistent, evolving operational persona with sustained ties to HellCat across dark web forums, Telegram, and cryptocurrency activity. The report also noted that some newer alias and wallet links remained unconfirmed and should be treated cautiously.
KELA Cyber published an update focused on identifying members of the Hellcat hacking group, including Rey and Pryx. This marked a public reporting milestone in attribution of the personas.
The investigation identified small-value Bitcoin and Ethereum wallet activity associated with the persona. Analysts assessed the transactions as more consistent with low-scale data sales and forum activity than mature ransomware extortion.
Investigators identified a separate forum artifact that labeled the same account identifier as a "HELLCAT Administrator." This strengthened the assessment that Rey was tied to the HellCat ecosystem rather than acting as an unrelated forum user.
A key attribution artifact surfaced in a BreachForums staff application in which the actor explicitly wrote, "I'm Rey, also known as Hikki-Chan." This provided direct self-attribution connecting the two aliases.
Investigators traced the threat persona later linked to Rey to the older alias Hikki-Chan across BreachForums, Telegram, paste services, and leaked forum data. Historical Telegram snapshots, recurring phrases, and reused profile motifs indicated continuity of the same actor across platforms.
Vulnerabilities, threat actors, malware, products, organizations, breaches, and observables Mallory has linked to this story. Indicator values are masked here and available in full in the app.
Indicator values are masked on this page. View all 13 in Mallory Domains, IPs, hashes, and URLs are exportable to your SIEM.
See this adversary's TTPs, infrastructure, and targeting history, correlated against your exposure.
2 references tracked. Mallory keeps watching after this page renders.
Map indicators from this story to your assets and identify affected systems in minutes.
Every observed campaign, victim, and pivot linked to actors named in this story.
Malware, exploits, and IOCs connected to the activity described here.
YARA, Sigma, and Snort rules deployed to your SIEM as soon as they’re published.
Get matching new stories delivered to your team as they break — not the next morning.
Ask questions about this story and take action on the answers.
Other stories Mallory is tracking that overlap on entities, sources, or topic labels.
Threat actors associated with the Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters group have launched a sophisticated campaign targeting Zendesk users by creating over 40 typosquatted and impersonation domains designed to mimic legitimate Zendesk portals. These domains are used to harvest credentials through fake single sign-on pages and to submit malicious tickets to real Zendesk helpdesks, potentially delivering remote-access trojans (RATs) to support agents. The attackers' tactics mirror previous campaigns against Salesforce and are believed to be linked to the same criminal crew, with the potential for lateral movement within compromised organizations and theft of sensitive data. The campaign has also been connected to the September 2025 Discord breach, where attackers exploited Discord's Zendesk-based support system to steal user data, including government-issued IDs and billing information. Separately, investigative reporting has identified a 15-year-old in Jordan, known online as "Rey," as a possible key figure in the Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters group. The group, which combines elements of Scattered Spider, Lapsus$, and ShinyHunters, has been implicated in high-profile data thefts from companies such as Salesforce, Toyota, and FedEx. The identification of "Rey" was based on digital footprints and personal information inadvertently revealed in cybercrime forums and Telegram channels. The group has also attempted to recruit insiders at targeted companies, further increasing the threat posed by their operations.
Jun 29, 2026
Cisco Talos reported that **BlackCat** (also tracked as **ALPHV**) shares infrastructure, tools, filenames, and intrusion tradecraft with the **BlackMatter/DarkSide** ransomware ecosystem, indicating with moderate confidence that at least one BlackMatter affiliate became an early BlackCat operator rather than the group being a simple rebrand. In side-by-side intrusions, Talos observed similar human-operated attack phases including persistent access through tunneling tools, credential theft via **LSASS** dumping, lateral movement with **Impacket `wmiexec`**, **WinRM/PowerShell**, and **RDP**, and domain-wide ransomware deployment from the domain controller’s **NETLOGON** share after scripts such as `apply.ps1`, `defender.vbs`, and `def.vbs` were staged. Talos said BlackCat dwell time exceeded 15 days in one case and noted that more than 30 percent of observed compromises affected U.S.-based organizations. Other reporting and technical analyses describe BlackCat as a **Rust-based ransomware-as-a-service** platform that emerged in late 2021, recruited affiliates from groups including **REvil, BlackMatter, and DarkSide**, and offered operators roughly **80 to 90 percent** of ransom proceeds. Researchers said the malware targets **Windows, Linux, and VMware ESXi** environments, uses double extortion with Tor-based payment portals, and includes capabilities such as **CMSTPLUA** privilege escalation, shadow-copy deletion, service and process termination, and configurable encryption using embedded keys. The overlap with DarkSide-era techniques is reinforced by prior DarkSide analyses showing similar affiliate-driven operations, extortion infrastructure, and malware behaviors, supporting the view that BlackCat grew out of the same criminal talent pool rather than appearing as an entirely separate threat.
Aug 15, 2026
A new **BreachForums** reboot appeared online with an administrator using the handle **"X"**, who claimed the forum had been rebuilt after its infrastructure, database, and source code were hacked from a hosting server and the prior operator **"N/A"** abandoned the project. The alleged revival was quickly disputed: **ShinyHunters** publicly denied any role in the new site and said it had not operated BreachForums since the FBI seizure in October 2025. Researchers also pointed to inconsistencies in X's account, raising doubts about whether the latest site is a legitimate successor, a copycat operation, or a setup using leaked forum data. The confusion comes amid a broader compromise tied to the BreachForums ecosystem, including the leak on Telegram of **918 databases** previously sold through the forum. Reporting said the exposed trove contains personal and sensitive data from numerous historical breaches, creating renewed opportunities for **phishing, ransomware, and espionage**. Multiple BreachForums-branded sites are now online, complicating attribution and increasing the possibility that some may be impersonation efforts, criminal competition, or potential law enforcement honeypots following repeated takedowns of major cybercrime forums.
Jun 29, 2026