Two cybersecurity experts from the United States have been sent to prison for turning against the industry they were meant to protect. The accused, Ryan Goldberg, 40, and Kevin Martin, 36, received four years sentence each, for their involvement in a series of extortion attacks.
This sentencing, announced on 30th April, 2026, follows a December 2025 report from Hackread.com which first detailed how the pair used their high-level technical skills to help a hacking group known as ALPHV (aka BlackCat).
Professionals turned hackers
According to a press release from the US Department of Justice (DoJ), Goldberg and Martin operated as affiliates for the gang throughout 2023. Goldberg worked as an incident response manager, and Martin as a ransomware negotiator. Instead of helping businesses recover from threats, they used a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) model to attack them.
This meant they used the BlackCat group’s software and platform to lock up company files, agreeing to give the developers a 20% cut of any money they made. The men targeted more than 1,000 victims worldwide, including engineering firms and medical centres. They were aggressive with their tactics; in one instance, they leaked private patient data from a doctor’s office to force them to pay.
A third suspect, Angelo Martino, has also pleaded guilty to using his position as a professional negotiator to provide hackers with sensitive information so they could demand a higher ransom. Martino, 41, is awaiting his sentencing, which is due on 9th July.
How the scheme was stopped
The trio successfully made about $1.2 million in Bitcoin from a single victim and split the money between themselves. However, their operation fell apart in late 2023 when the FBI disrupted the BlackCat network. Investigators created a tool that allowed hundreds of victims to get their data back without paying, which prevented roughly $99 million from going to the hackers.
The DoJ noted that Goldberg escaped and travelled through 10 different countries after realising that he was being watched. The FBI eventually caught him in Mexico City and brought him back to the United States. Officials stated that the four-year prison terms reflect the damage caused by the men and the way they used their technical skills and expertise for greed.
(Photo by Greg Rosenke on Unsplash)
