A deep dive into one of the most aggressive ransomware groups operating today—Play—and their latest high-profile target: Krispy Kreme.
Operating since 2022, the Play ransomware group has become notorious for its double extortion model, where sensitive data is exfiltrated before systems are encrypted. Victims are pressured not just by digital ransom notes but also through direct phone calls to company lines, creating a highly aggressive and disruptive extortion cycle. Play has targeted over 900 entities globally, from government institutions to media outlets and, most recently, the food industry.
In November 2024, Krispy Kreme was forced to shut down online ordering in parts of the U.S. after detecting unauthorized access to its systems. The Play group claimed responsibility. Stolen data reportedly included names, Social Security numbers, banking credentials, biometrics, and even military IDs—a scale and sensitivity that elevates this attack far beyond typical retail breaches.
We break down:
📛 The origins and global targeting footprint of Play ransomware
📤 Their TTPs: dynamic compilation, intermittent encryption, WinRAR compression, and data exfiltration via WinSCP
☎️ Their use of direct communication, including threatening phone calls to corporate numbers
🧠 Their links to Russian-affiliated cyber actors and similarities to other ransomware variants like Hive and Nokoyawa
🧬 The specific operational and reputational damage inflicted on Krispy Kreme
💥 The unique risks of biometric data exposure in ransomware cases
🛡️ Critical cybersecurity recommendations from CISA, including segmentation, offline backups, EDR, and least-privilege access
🧪 How businesses—regardless of industry—must rethink cybersecurity resilience in the face of industrialized extortion models
Whether you’re in tech, retail, or public infrastructure, this is a wake-up call: ransomware doesn’t discriminate by sector—it hunts for scale, pressure points, and poor preparation.
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