Former Cybersecurity Pros Plead Guilty to ALPHV Ransomware Extortion Scheme Two former cybersecurity professionals, Ryan Clifford Goldberg (Georgia) and Kevin Tyler Martin (Texas), have pleaded guilty to deploying ALPHV (BlackCat) ransomware in a series of extortion attacks targeting U.S. organizations. The pair successfully extorted $1.2 million from a medical device company in 2023 and attempted—but failed—to extort millions more from additional victims, including a Maryland pharmaceutical firm, a California doctor’s office, a California engineering company, and a Virginia drone manufacturer. Goldberg, a former incident response manager at Sygnia, and Martin, a former ransomware threat negotiator at DigitalMint, were initially indicted in November 2024 alongside a third co-conspirator. The indictment accused them of infiltrating corporate networks, stealing data, encrypting systems, and demanding cryptocurrency ransoms. Prosecutors noted that the defendants exploited their cybersecurity expertise to commit crimes they were trained to prevent. The case falls under federal jurisdiction due to the victims’ involvement in interstate commerce. The ransom payments were allegedly laundered through multiple cryptocurrency wallets to obscure their origins. Both face charges including conspiracy to interfere with interstate commerce by extortion (up to 20 years in prison) and intentional damage to a protected computer (up to 10 years). Sentencing is set for March 12, 2026.