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www.stcharlesprep.org

Ransomware attack by Lynx · Disclosed January 5, 2026 · 🇺🇸 United States

www.stcharlesprep.org

Date Disclosed
Jan 5, 2026
2026
Threat Group
Lynx
417 total victims
Country
🇺🇸 United States
Industry
Education

ThreatAI Analysis

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

About the Lynx group

Lynx is a ransomware-as-a-service operation that emerged in mid-2024 as a rebrand of INC Ransomware (whose source code was sold for $300,000 on the RAMP forum), claiming ~300 victims across manufacturing, business services, technology, and transportation with an 80/20 profit split for affiliates. Lynx has listed 416 victims since May 2023.

How Lynx 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 →
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 →
Disable or Modify Tools T1685 Defense Impairment

Adversaries may disable, degrade, or tamper with security tools or applications (e.g., endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools, intrusion detection systems (IDS), antivirus, logging agents, sensors, etc.) to impair or reduce visibility of defensive capabilities. This may include stopping specific services, killing processes, modifying or deleting tool configuration files and Registry keys, or preventing tools from updating. This may also include impairing defenses more broadly by disrupting preventative, detection, and response mechanisms across host, network, and cloud environments.

Mitigations: Execution Prevention, User Account Management, Restrict File and Directory Permissions, Restrict Registry Permissions, Software Configuration, Audit

MITRE ATT&CK reference →

MITRE ATT&CK techniques attributed to Lynx across its recorded activity, not a finding about how www.stcharlesprep.org was reached.

Incident Analysis

www.stcharlesprep.org was targeted by Lynx ransomware, one of the most active ransomware groups in our database with 417 confirmed victims globally. The attack was disclosed on January 5, 2026, when www.stcharlesprep.org appeared on the group's dark web leak site.

www.stcharlesprep.org is based in United States , operating in the Education sector. United States ranks #1 globally for ransomware attacks, with 9,416 victims in our database.

Sector context: Educational institutions often have under-resourced IT security teams and hold large amounts of student and faculty personal data, making them attractive targets for ransomware groups.

Lynx 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 5, 2026 20:00 UTC.

Frequently Asked Questions

Was www.stcharlesprep.org attacked by ransomware?

Yes. www.stcharlesprep.org was listed as a victim of the Lynx ransomware group on January 5, 2026. The organisation is based in United States and operates in the Education sector. The disclosure appeared on the group's dark web leak site.

Which ransomware group attacked www.stcharlesprep.org?

www.stcharlesprep.org was attacked by Lynx ransomware. Lynx is one of the most active ransomware groups, having claimed 417 victims globally. The group typically employs a double-extortion model: encrypting the victim's files and threatening to publish stolen data.

When did the www.stcharlesprep.org ransomware attack occur?

The ransomware attack on www.stcharlesprep.org was disclosed on January 5, 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 www.stcharlesprep.org ransomware attack?

The specific data stolen from www.stcharlesprep.org 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 Education organisation, www.stcharlesprep.org likely held student and faculty personal data and academic records.

How can organisations protect against Lynx attacks?

To defend against Lynx 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.