In late January 2023 the BlackCat ransomware group, also tracked as ALPHV, listed Solar Industries India Limited on its Tor leak site and claimed to have stolen around 2TB of data. The Nagpur-based company manufactures industrial explosives and defence products including rockets, warheads, mines and bombs.
The group said the haul included weapon blueprints, warhead composition details, engineering drawings and specifications, product testing and audit records, armament supply chain information, employee and customer data, and government contract material. It named systems such as Pinaka rocket variants, BrahMos and Akash. As proof, BlackCat published images of documents alongside stills taken from the company's own security cameras.
Nagpur Today reported that company officials became aware of the breach on January 21, 2023 after receiving extortion threats, and that a case was registered at the city's cyber police station under extortion provisions of the Indian Penal Code. The matter was referred to the Central Bureau of Investigation, and officials from the defence and home ministries and from intelligence agencies travelled to Nagpur to monitor the investigation.
The scope of the theft rested on the attackers' own claims and on analysis by the Indian security firm CloudSEK rather than on any disclosure by Solar Industries. After negotiations failed, the group invited bids for the data on a short deadline.