Apollo Global Management has confirmed a data breach in which hackers stole personal information from the private equity firm’s cloud environment following a social engineering attack. The compromised data included names, dates of birth, contact information such as home addresses, and Social Security numbers.
Apollo disclosed the incident in a breach notification filed with California’s attorney general. The filing identifies the affected organization as Apollo Management Holdings and lists July 6, 2026, as the start of the breach.
Hackers Accessed Apollo’s Cloud Environment
Apollo human resources chief Matthew Breitfelder said the attackers gained unauthorized access through social engineering between July 6 and July 10. The company has not publicly identified the attackers or disclosed how many people were affected.
The notification does not specify whether the exposed information belonged to Apollo employees, people working at companies Apollo owns, or other individuals. Apollo had about 5,000 employees as of February 2026, according to its public regulatory filings.
The firm is one of the world’s largest alternative asset managers, with about $938 billion in assets under management.
Apollo spokesperson Giovanna Falbo did not immediately answer TechCrunch’s questions about the incident, including whether the company paid a ransom.
Attack Follows Warnings About Financial Sector Extortion
The confirmed breach comes after security researchers at Google warned about a hacking campaign targeting private equity firms and other financial companies. Google Threat Intelligence Group said the attackers rely heavily on social engineering rather than exploiting software vulnerabilities.
The hackers, tracked under names including Falcon, Helix, Pink, and Redact, have called employees while impersonating IT help desks or support staff. They then attempt to persuade victims to enter passwords and multi-factor authentication codes into fraudulent login pages.
Once inside company systems, the attackers steal corporate data and demand payment while threatening to publish the information. Google said some victims have paid ransoms of as much as $750,000.
Reuters previously reported that Apollo was among several firms targeted by the campaign, alongside Blackstone, Bridgewater, and Bain Capital. At the time, it was unclear whether any of those attempts had resulted in a successful breach.
Apollo’s California notification now confirms that attackers did gain access to its cloud systems and obtain sensitive personal information during July.
Featured image credits: Wikimedia Commons
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