Apollo Global Management, a major player in the private equity sector, has acknowledged a data breach where hackers accessed and stole significant personal information from its cloud systems.
This incident follows a recent warning from cybersecurity experts about a new wave of hacking activities targeting key financial and private equity firms.
In a letter submitted to the attorney general of California, Apollo’s head of human resources, Matthew Breitfelder, outlined that the breach occurred between July 6 and July 10 when cybercriminals employed social engineering tactics to infiltrate the company’s cloud infrastructure. Personal details taken by the hackers include names, birthdates, home addresses, and Social Security numbers.
The letter does not specify which individuals had their data compromised, whether they were employees of Apollo or associated with its portfolio companies. Apollo, known as one of the largest private equity firms globally, manages around $938 billion in assets.
TechCrunch attempted to reach out to Apollo for additional comments, but their spokesperson, Giovanna Falbo, did not provide specific answers regarding the breach, including whether any ransom was paid to the hackers.
As of February 2026, Apollo employs approximately 5,000 individuals, as indicated in the company’s public regulatory documents.
This breach is acknowledged shortly after Google security researchers alerted the industry about targeted hacks against private equity firms as part of a broader extortion scheme. Reports indicated that alongside Apollo, firms like Blackstone, Bridgewater, and Bain Capital were also targeted, though it remained unclear if any of these companies suffered breaches.
The hackers, operating under various aliases such as Falcon, Helix, Pink, and Redact, primarily utilize social engineering techniques, which involve impersonating IT support to trick employees into revealing their passwords and multi-factor authentication codes via fraudulent login sites. This approach grants them access to corporate networks.
Once they obtain sensitive data, the hackers then threaten companies into paying ransoms or risk exposure of the stolen information on their leak sites.
Some ransom demands have reportedly reached as high as $750,000, according to Google’s findings.
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