The dark web influences modern ransomware by connecting malware developers, affiliates, initial-access brokers, data traders, and cryptocurrency laundering services through a cybercrime-as-a-service economy. Mexico’s reported ransomware victims doubled from 37 in 2024 to 74 in 2025. By 2026, operations such as The Gentlemen demonstrated how this market is incorporating AI into attacks, while international investigations increasingly target the infrastructure and financial services sustaining it. Ransomware has evolved from malware developed and deployed by individual cybercriminals into a distributed criminal economy in which different actors specialize in gaining access to corporate networks, developing malicious software, extracting information, and negotiating payments. The dark web provides an important meeting point for these activities, allowing criminal groups to commercialize their capabilities and recruit affiliates without maintaining a centralized organization.This business model is particularly relevant to Mexico, where ransomware activity has increased substantially. According to cybersecurity company IQSEC’s Ransomware Trends 2024–2025 report, the number of Mexican organizations listed on ransomware groups’ data-leak websites doubled from 37 in 2024 to 74 in 2025. Globally, the same research identified an increase from 5,319 presumed victims to 7,146, representing 34.5% growth.These figures reflect organizations publicly identified by criminal groups rather than independently confirmed incidents. Nevertheless, they illustrate how Mexico is becoming increasingly exposed to an international ransomware economy whose infrastructure operates across geographical boundaries.Recorded Future’s Insikt Group identified 223 ransomware incidents involving 64 groups and more than 100 victims in Mexico between January 2020 and April 2026. Government, manufacturing, information technology, and food and beverage were among the most affected industries. LockBit, Qilin, CL0P, Kazu, and ALPHV were the leading groups identified in its research. The implications extend beyond the organizations directly attacked. Companies operating in Mexico’s manufacturing, financial, logistics, and technology supply chains can face operational interruptions, compromised business information, regulatory exposure, and reputational damage when criminal operations gain access to interconnected systems.The Criminal Economy Behind RansomwareThe dark web does not independently produce ransomware attacks. Instead, it provides an environment in which specialized criminal services can be advertised, purchased, coordinated, and monetized. This ecosystem is commonly described as Cybercrime-as-a-Service (CaaS), with Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) representing one of its most consequential business models.Under RaaS, developers maintain ransomware code, infrastructure, and operational support, while affiliates obtain access to these resources and conduct attacks. Depending on the arrangement, operators receive a percentage of ransom payments or other financial compensation. This division of labor allows individuals without advanced malware-development capabilities to participate in sophisticated criminal operations.The surrounding supply chain includes initial-access brokers, who sell compromised corporate credentials or network access; developers who provide malware and encryption tools; data brokers who trade stolen information; and money-laundering operators who help conceal criminal proceeds.The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security explains that cybercrime marketplaces and forums connect these participants. Hosting providers supply infrastructure, financial services facilitate cryptocurrency transactions, and encrypted communications support negotiations between criminals and their victims. Stolen information can subsequently circulate through the same ecosystem, creating opportunities for additional fraud, extortion, and identity theft. This model also explains why ransomware operations can survive the disappearance of individual criminal groups. Affiliates can move between operators, acquire alternative malware, and continue targeting organizations under different names.The disruption of LockBit illustrates this resilience. In February 2024, Operation Cronos, coordinated by the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency (NCA), the US Department of Justice, and international partners, seized infrastructure used by the group. The operation targeted websites and servers supporting its attacks and extortion activities. The US Department of Justice reported that LockBit had targeted more than 2,000 victims and received over US$120 million in ransom payments. However, disrupting a criminal brand does not necessarily dismantle its commercial infrastructure. The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security assesses that affiliates can reorganize independently, while smaller groups can recruit displaced operators and compete for market share. Mexico’s experience provides another illustration. Previous Mexico Business News reporting on KillSec examined a ransomware operation associated with approximately 1,000 attacks, around 500 successful compromises, and more than 280 victims. Its use of a dark-web leak site and cryptocurrency-based extortion demonstrated how criminal operators can combine intrusion capabilities with independent data-publication and monetization infrastructure. The commercial significance of this arrangement is that ransomware no longer depends on the continued existence of a particular criminal organization. The underlying services, relationships, and technical capabilities can be transferred to other operators.AI, International Enforcement, and the Outlook for 2027AI is adding another operational layer to this ecosystem. Rather than replacing the RaaS model, AI can improve the efficiency of individual stages, including reconnaissance, credential harvesting, malware development, data analysis, and post-compromise activities.An Oct. 2026 investigation by cybersecurity company CloudSEK demonstrated this development through an operation involving The Gentlemen, a RaaS group that emerged in 2025. An affiliate identified as Azazel used an AI coding assistant connected through the Model Context Protocol (MCP) to execute commands inside compromised environments.The investigation uncovered more than two dozen victim directories across six countries, including Mexico, and infrastructure with more than 50 terabytes of storage capacity. Researchers also identified approximately six terabytes of stolen information on one server. The affiliate used compromised GitLab continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) credentials and repository histories to gain access to corporate environments. The case is significant because AI was not merely used to write malicious code or generate phishing messages. The assistant interacted with tools capable of executing commands within compromised systems, making it part of the operational attack infrastructure. This does not establish that all ransomware groups are adopting autonomous attacks, but it demonstrates how legitimate enterprise AI integrations can become additional attack surfaces.Google Threat Intelligence Group’s Sept. 2026 research similarly documented a transition from basic AI prompting toward agentic workflows and automated operations. Its investigators observed threat actors planning and executing an AI-assisted credential-harvesting campaign in less than six hours after compromising a cloud resource. The response is increasingly focused on disrupting the broader criminal economy rather than identifying malware alone. In June 2026, Europol announced an international operation against AudiA6, a cryptocurrency-laundering service suspected of processing more than €336 million between 2022 and 2025. Investigators linked the service to more than 15 international cybercrime investigations and identified connections to the Dark2Web criminal forum. Mexico is also developing a coordinated response. In March 2026, the Institute for Security and Technology launched the México Ransomware Task Force with support from Mastercard, Microsoft, and Sophos. Its four pillars—Deter, Disrupt, Prepare, and Respond—bring together representatives from government, financial institutions, technology companies, and academic organizations. For 2027, the most defensible expectation is not the emergence of a single dominant ransomware group, but continued fragmentation and adaptation of the criminal market. {“path”:{“baseUrl”:”\/”,”scriptPath”:null,”pathPrefix”:””,”currentPath”:”node\/66859″,”currentPathIsAdmin”:false,”isFront”:false,”currentLanguage”:”en”},”pluralDelimiter”:”\u0003″,”suppressDeprecationErrors”:true,”sharebardata”:{“buttons”:”\u003Cul class=\u0022social-sharebar\u0022\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cscript src=\u0022\/\/platform.linkedin.com\/in.js\u0022 type=\u0022text\/javascript\u0022\u003E\r\n lang: en_US\u003C\/script\u003E\u003Cscript type=\u0022IN\/Share\u0022 data-url=\u0022https:\/\/mexicobusiness.news\/cybersecurity\/news\/dark-web-marketplaces-scaling-ransomware-operations\u0022 data-counter=\u0022top\u0022\u003E\u003C\/script\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\r\n\u003Cdiv class=\u0022g-plusone\u0022 data-size=\u0022tall\u0022 data-href=\u0022https:\/\/mexicobusiness.news\/cybersecurity\/news\/dark-web-marketplaces-scaling-ransomware-operations\u0022\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\r\n\u003Cscript type=\u0022text\/javascript\u0022\u003E(function() {var po = document.createElement(\u0027script\u0027); 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