DeadLock Ransomware Uses Polygon Smart Contracts to Make Extortion Infra Harder to Disrupt

The DeadLock ransomware group leverages Polygon blockchain smart contracts and a decentralized encrypted messaging app to manage ransom communications and extortion processes, making disruption efforts more difficult. Their attacks, targeting mainly Italy, Spain, Poland, Türkiye, and the U.S., feature sophisticated cryptography, evasion tactics, and selective encryption to enhance resilience.

This Wire brief sits within Fusion42's coverage of Cybersecurity, and 3 sources have reported it between 11 Aug 2026 and 13 Aug 2026.