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

The DeadLock ransomware group uses decentralized blockchain and encrypted messaging to enhance resilience and complicate disruption of their extortion operations. Active since July 2025, DeadLock has targeted nearly 100 victims across multiple countries, employing double extortion tactics with selective file encryption and geofencing to avoid certain regions.