An unnamed US county – perhaps in Ohio – paid $1M extortion demand to cybercriminals

A leaked Ransom-ISAC case study and negotiation transcript detail how the extortion group 'Kairos' claimed to have stolen more than 2 TB (≈1.6M files) from a US county, demanded $3M, and settled for $1M after negotiations; the attackers provided an RAR they said proved deletion but no independent verification exists, and the episode appears to be data extortion (not traditional ransomware), with sensitive PII at risk and potential for future resale or re-extortion.