Hankin & Mazel, PLLC Listed by pear Ransomware Group: Ransomware Claim — What’s Alleged & What To Do

People connected to cooperative and condominium boards, along with anyone whose records sit inside a long-running real-estate law practice, now face the practical question of whether their personal or financial details have left the firm’s systems. On July 28, 2025, the ransomware group known as pear publicly listed Hankin & Mazel, PLLC, claiming it had exfiltrated internal files. The number of people affected remains unknown, and the precise contents of those files have not been independently confirmed.

For residents, board members, vendors, and employees who rely on the firm, the listing raises immediate concerns about identity theft, financial fraud, and the possible exposure of sensitive board or property records. Public detail is limited, yet the claim alone is enough to warrant careful attention.

Breaking down the breach

According to the available record, Hankin & Mazel, PLLC was listed by the pear ransomware group on July 28, 2025. The group asserts that internal files were exfiltrated during a ransomware attack and that samples have been posted. No independent confirmation of the intrusion method, the exact volume of data taken, or the total number of individuals affected has been released in the public facts. Timing of the initial compromise, the duration of any access, and whether encryption of systems also occurred are all undisclosed.

What is stated is simply that the firm appears on pear’s leak site with a claim of stolen internal files. Beyond that listing and the note that samples were posted, further technical or forensic particulars remain unconfirmed.

Inside pear

Pear is a ransomware operation that follows a familiar double-extortion model: it claims to steal data before or during encryption and then threatens to publish the material if a ransom is not paid. Like other groups in this category, it maintains a public leak site where it posts victim names, brief descriptions, and sometimes sample files to increase pressure. Public reporting on pear has described typical tactics that include phishing or exploitation of remote-access services, followed by lateral movement and data staging for exfiltration. The group’s listings are claims made by the actors themselves and should be treated as unverified until corroborated by the victim organization or independent investigators.

In this instance, pear’s listing of Hankin & Mazel, PLLC is presented as an assertion that internal files were taken and that samples have been made available. No additional statements from the group about this specific firm—beyond the listing itself—are part of the known facts.

About Hankin & Mazel, PLLC

Hankin & Mazel, PLLC is a law firm whose staff has represented cooperative and condominium boards for more than thirty years. Firms of this type routinely handle governance documents, board resolutions, shareholder or unit-owner lists, financial statements, contracts with vendors, and correspondence that may contain personal identifiers, banking details, and property-related records. Because the practice centers on residential cooperatives and condominiums, the data it holds often touches large numbers of individual residents and board members over many years.

A breach involving such a firm is consequential precisely because the records are both long-lived and personally sensitive. Even without Reported Details of what left the network, the nature of the practice means that any successful exfiltration could affect people who never had a direct attorney-client relationship with the firm but whose information appears in board files or closing packages.

The information in question

The public facts state only that internal files were exfiltrated in a ransomware attack and that samples were posted. No inventory of specific data types—such as Social Security numbers, bank account numbers, medical information, or exact categories of board documents—has been disclosed. Organizations that represent cooperative and condominium boards typically maintain client files, financial ledgers, contact lists, contracts, and correspondence that can include names, addresses, email addresses, telephone numbers, and financial account details. Whether any of those categories were among the files claimed by pear remains unconfirmed.

Until the firm or independent investigators publish a verified list of exposed data elements, the exact contents must be treated as unknown. The claim of “internal files” is broad and does not by itself establish which individuals or which record types are involved.

What's at stake

For people whose information may have been taken, the concrete risks include identity theft, fraudulent account openings, targeted phishing that references real board or property details, and the long-term circulation of personal data on criminal markets. Board members and residents could face secondary effects if proprietary financial or governance documents become public, potentially complicating property management or personal privacy. The firm itself faces operational disruption, possible regulatory notification duties, reputational harm, and the cost of investigation and remediation.

Because the number of affected individuals is unknown and the precise data types are unconfirmed, the scale of these risks cannot yet be quantified. The absence of confirmed numbers does not eliminate the need for caution among anyone who has interacted with the firm’s cooperative or condominium practice.

What to do if you're exposed

If you have been a client, board member, resident, employee, or vendor connected to Hankin & Mazel, PLLC, begin by monitoring financial accounts and credit reports for unfamiliar activity. Consider placing a fraud alert or credit freeze with the major credit bureaus. Be alert for phishing messages that reference cooperative or condominium matters and that appear to come from the firm or related parties. Preserve any notices you receive from the firm itself, as they may contain specific guidance once more details are known.

You can also run a free exposure scan of your email address to check whether your information has already surfaced in known breach data sets. That step provides an early indicator of whether your credentials or personal details are circulating, independent of this particular incident. Stay attentive to official updates from the firm rather than relying solely on third-party claims.

AICompiled with AI assistance from public sources and published under our editorial standards.