Babuk is a ransomware group that emerged in December 2020, quickly adopting a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) model and double extortion tactics to target large corporate and government entities primarily for financial gain. The group gained notoriety for its "big-game hunting" approach, particularly after an attack on the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department in April 2021, which reportedly led to internal discord and the group's announced retirement in mid-2021. A defining characteristic of Babuk's operational lifespan was the subsequent leak of its complete source code, facilitating the proliferation of new ransomware variants and inspiring copycat groups like Babuk2 or Babuk-Bjorka, which have since impersonated the original operation using recycled data. The group is assessed with high confidence to be of Eastern European, specifically Russian, origin.