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Ransomware Victim Agriculture and Food Production

Premier Meats South Africa

Ransomware attack by Devman · Disclosed April 20, 2025 · 🇿🇦 South Africa

premiermeats.co.za

Date Disclosed
Apr 20, 2025
2025
Threat Group
Devman
184 total victims
Country
🇿🇦 South Africa
Industry
Agriculture and Food Production

ThreatAI Analysis

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

About the Devman group

Former RansomHub and INC Ransom affiliate. Devman has listed 184 victims since June 2023.

How Devman 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 →
Exploitation of Remote Services T1210 Lateral Movement

Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network. Exploitation of a software vulnerability occurs when an adversary takes advantage of a programming error in a program, service, or within the operating system software or kernel itself to execute adversary-controlled code. A common goal for post-compromise exploitation of remote services is for lateral movement to enable access to a remote system.

Mitigations: Vulnerability Scanning, Network Segmentation, Threat Intelligence Program, Privileged Account Management, Application Isolation and Sandboxing, Exploit Protection

MITRE ATT&CK reference →
PowerShell T1059.001 Execution

Adversaries may abuse PowerShell commands and scripts for execution. PowerShell is a powerful interactive command-line interface and scripting environment included in the Windows operating system. Adversaries can use PowerShell to perform a number of actions, including discovery of information and execution of code. Examples include the <codeStart-Process</code cmdlet which can be used to run an executable and the <codeInvoke-Command</code cmdlet which runs a command locally or on a remote computer (though administrator permissions are required to use PowerShell to connect to remote systems).

Mitigations: Execution Prevention, Code Signing, Privileged Account Management, Antivirus/Antimalware, Disable or Remove Feature or Program

MITRE ATT&CK reference →
Exploitation for Client Execution T1203 Execution

Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code. Vulnerabilities can exist in software due to unsecure coding practices that can lead to unanticipated behavior. Adversaries can take advantage of certain vulnerabilities through targeted exploitation for the purpose of arbitrary code execution. Oftentimes the most valuable exploits to an offensive toolkit are those that can be used to obtain code execution on a remote system because they can be used to gain access to that system.

Mitigations: Application Isolation and Sandboxing, Exploit Protection, Update Software

MITRE ATT&CK reference →
Exploitation for Privilege Escalation T1068 Privilege Escalation

Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges. Exploitation of a software vulnerability occurs when an adversary takes advantage of a programming error in a program, service, or within the operating system software or kernel itself to execute adversary-controlled code. Security constructs such as permission levels will often hinder access to information and use of certain techniques, so adversaries will likely need to perform privilege escalation to include use of software exploitation to circumvent those restrictions.

Mitigations: Execution Prevention, Threat Intelligence Program, Application Isolation and Sandboxing, Exploit Protection, Update Software

MITRE ATT&CK reference →
Masquerading T1036 Stealth

Adversaries may attempt to manipulate features of their artifacts to make them appear legitimate or benign to users and/or security tools. Masquerading occurs when the name or location of an object, legitimate or malicious, is manipulated or abused for the sake of evading defenses and observation. This may include manipulating file metadata, tricking users into misidentifying the file type, and giving legitimate task or service names. Renaming abusable system utilities to evade security monitoring is also a form of Masquerading.

Mitigations: User Training, Execution Prevention, Code Signing, Behavior Prevention on Endpoint, User Account Management, Restrict File and Directory Permissions

MITRE ATT&CK reference →

MITRE ATT&CK techniques attributed to Devman across its recorded activity, not a finding about how Premier Meats South Africa was reached.

Incident Analysis

Premier Meats South Africa was targeted by Devman ransomware, one of the most active ransomware groups in our database with 184 confirmed victims globally. The attack was disclosed on April 20, 2025, when Premier Meats South Africa appeared on the group's dark web leak site.

Premier Meats South Africa is based in South Africa , operating in the Agriculture and Food Production sector. South Africa ranks #32 globally for ransomware attacks, with 95 victims in our database.

Sector context: Organisations in this sector hold valuable data and operational systems that ransomware groups seek to exploit for financial gain through encryption and data exfiltration.

Devman 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 8, 2026 02:00 UTC.

Frequently Asked Questions

Was Premier Meats South Africa attacked by ransomware?

Yes. Premier Meats South Africa was listed as a victim of the Devman ransomware group on April 20, 2025. The organisation is based in South Africa and operates in the Agriculture and Food Production sector. The disclosure appeared on the group's dark web leak site.

Which ransomware group attacked Premier Meats South Africa?

Premier Meats South Africa was attacked by Devman ransomware. Devman is one of the most active ransomware groups, having claimed 184 victims globally. The group typically employs a double-extortion model: encrypting the victim's files and threatening to publish stolen data.

When did the Premier Meats South Africa ransomware attack occur?

The ransomware attack on Premier Meats South Africa was disclosed on April 20, 2025. 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 Premier Meats South Africa ransomware attack?

The specific data stolen from Premier Meats South Africa 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. As a Agriculture and Food Production organisation, Premier Meats South Africa likely held sensitive business data, client information, and operational records.

How can organisations protect against Devman attacks?

To defend against Devman 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.