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Ransomware Victim

Avalon Hills

Ransomware attack by Sinobi · Disclosed January 19, 2026 · 🇺🇸 United States

avalonhills.org

Date Disclosed
Jan 19, 2026
2026
Threat Group
Sinobi
274 total victims
Country
🇺🇸 United States
Industry
—

ThreatAI Analysis

Compiled from this incident record and the threat intelligence profile for Sinobi. Figures and technique mappings are quoted from the source data, not inferred.

About the Sinobi group

Sinobi is a private vetted-affiliate RaaS group that emerged in mid-2025, believed to be a rebrand of the Lynx/INC ransomware lineage, claiming 176 victims by end of 2025 through double-extortion attacks primarily against mid-market US organizations via compromised SonicWall VPN credentials. Sinobi has listed 274 victims since March 2025.

How Sinobi is documented to operate

Valid Accounts T1078 Stealth Persistence

Adversaries may obtain and abuse credentials of existing accounts as a means of gaining Initial Access, Persistence, Privilege Escalation, or Defense Evasion. Compromised credentials may be used to bypass access controls placed on various resources on systems within the network and may even be used for persistent access to remote systems and externally available services, such as VPNs, Outlook Web Access, network devices, and remote desktop. Compromised credentials may also grant an adversary increased privilege to specific systems or access to restricted areas of the network.

Mitigations: Application Developer Guidance, User Training, Password Policies, User Account Management, Privileged Account Management, Multi-factor Authentication

MITRE ATT&CK reference →
Exploit Public-Facing Application T1190 Initial Access

Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network. The weakness in the system can be a software bug, a temporary glitch, or a misconfiguration. Exploited applications are often websites/web servers, but can also include databases (like SQL), standard services (like SMB or SSH), network device administration and management protocols (like SNMP and Smart Install), and any other system with Internet-accessible open sockets. On ESXi infrastructure, adversaries may exploit exposed OpenSLP services; they may alternatively exploit exposed VMware vCenter servers.

Mitigations: Vulnerability Scanning, Limit Access to Resource Over Network, Filter Network Traffic, Network Segmentation, Privileged Account Management, Application Isolation and Sandboxing

MITRE ATT&CK reference →
Phishing T1566 Initial Access

Adversaries may send phishing messages to gain access to victim systems. All forms of phishing are electronically delivered social engineering. Phishing can be targeted, known as spearphishing. In spearphishing, a specific individual, company, or industry will be targeted by the adversary. More generally, adversaries can conduct non-targeted phishing, such as in mass malware spam campaigns. Adversaries may send victims emails containing malicious attachments or links, typically to execute malicious code on victim systems. Phishing may also be conducted via third-party services, like social media platforms.

Mitigations: Network Intrusion Prevention, Restrict Web-Based Content, User Training, Antivirus/Antimalware, Software Configuration, Audit

MITRE ATT&CK reference →
Native API T1106 Execution

Adversaries may interact with the native OS application programming interface (API) to execute behaviors. Native APIs provide a controlled means of calling low-level OS services within the kernel, such as those involving hardware/devices, memory, and processes. These native APIs are leveraged by the OS during system boot (when other system components are not yet initialized) as well as carrying out tasks and requests during routine operations. Adversaries may abuse these OS API functions as a means of executing behaviors.

Mitigations: Execution Prevention, Behavior Prevention on Endpoint

MITRE ATT&CK reference →

MITRE ATT&CK techniques attributed to Sinobi across its recorded activity, not a finding about how Avalon Hills was reached.

Vulnerabilities Sinobi is recorded exploiting

3 of these 3 are in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, 3 of them recorded by CISA as used in ransomware campaigns. CVEs attributed to Sinobi across its reported activity. There is no indication that any of these was involved in the Avalon Hills incident — the source data does not record an entry point.

Incident Analysis

Avalon Hills was targeted by Sinobi ransomware, one of the most active ransomware groups in our database with 274 confirmed victims globally. The attack was disclosed on January 19, 2026, when Avalon Hills appeared on the group's dark web leak site.

Avalon Hills is based in United States . United States ranks #1 globally for ransomware attacks, with 9,536 victims in our database.

Sinobi typically employs a double extortion model: first exfiltrating sensitive data from the victim's systems, then deploying ransomware to encrypt files. Victims face two simultaneous threats — paying to restore access and paying to prevent publication of stolen data. The group's leak site publishes victim names and exfiltrated data as leverage.

Data source: This incident record is sourced from public ransomware group leak site disclosures aggregated via the ransomware.live API. Disclosure date reflects when the victim was published on the leak site, which may differ from the initial date of compromise. This platform does not publish or link to stolen data. Last data update: Sep 20, 2026 00:00 UTC.

Frequently Asked Questions

Was Avalon Hills attacked by ransomware?

Yes. Avalon Hills was listed as a victim of the Sinobi ransomware group on January 19, 2026. The organisation is based in United States. The disclosure appeared on the group's dark web leak site.

Which ransomware group attacked Avalon Hills?

Avalon Hills was attacked by Sinobi ransomware. Sinobi is one of the most active ransomware groups, having claimed 274 victims globally. The group typically employs a double-extortion model: encrypting the victim's files and threatening to publish stolen data.

When did the Avalon Hills ransomware attack occur?

The ransomware attack on Avalon Hills was disclosed on January 19, 2026. This date reflects when the victim was published on the threat group's leak site, which may differ from the actual date of initial compromise.

What data was stolen in the Avalon Hills ransomware attack?

The specific data stolen from Avalon Hills has not been independently verified by this platform. Ransomware groups typically exfiltrate data before encrypting systems and use the threat of publication to pressure victims. Sensitive business data was likely targeted.

How can organisations protect against Sinobi attacks?

To defend against Sinobi and similar threat actors, organisations should: maintain regular offline backups tested for restoration; implement network segmentation to limit lateral movement; deploy multi-factor authentication on all remote access; use endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools; conduct regular phishing and security awareness training; and monitor threat intelligence feeds for indicators of compromise (IOCs) associated with active groups.