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CloudSEK researchers say an affiliate using The Gentlemen ransomware operation’s tools allegedly ran a separate victim-extortion scheme, diverting negotiations and ransom proceeds to keep the money. The account comes from Cybernews, which reported CloudSEK’s findings; it is an allegation, not a court finding.
What does “double-crossing” The Gentlemen mean?
According to CloudSEK’s findings as reported by Cybernews, an affiliate identified as “Azazel” allegedly used The Gentlemen’s infrastructure and tooling to breach organizations, but handled victims independently. The affiliate reportedly operated a separate leak site called “LEAKNED,” published stolen data there, negotiated directly with victims and kept the ransom proceeds instead of sharing them with the ransomware-as-a-service operation.
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In other words, the reported double-cross was a split between the operation’s attack tooling and the affiliate’s alleged business arrangement: the affiliate used the group’s capabilities while redirecting victim communications and payments to a separate channel.
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What CloudSEK reportedly found
Cybernews says CloudSEK discovered an exposed directory and a misconfigured storage server. Its account attributes to the affiliate more than two dozen organizations across six countries and roughly 6TB of data in victim directories. Those figures describe data attributed to victims, not all the raw storage CloudSEK reportedly observed.
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- More than two dozen organizations in six countries: CloudSEK’s reported count of victims attributed to the affiliate.
- About 6TB: data attributed to victims in directories, according to CloudSEK as reported by Cybernews.
- More than 29TB: raw storage reported across two servers.
- 50TB: the scope used in Cybernews’s headline and description of exposed infrastructure. It is not interchangeable with either the raw-storage figure or the victim-data estimate.
CloudSEK’s October 5, 2026 update listing calls the investigation “Caught in 4K: The Gentlemen Files” and summarizes victims in six countries, exposed infrastructure and an AI-driven chain. The detailed account cited here is Cybernews’s report of CloudSEK’s findings.
What role did AI and MCP allegedly play?
The reported attack chain involved an AI assistant, Model Context Protocol (MCP) and reverse PowerShell. CloudSEK said it had not identified prior public reporting of a threat actor operationally using MCP exec_in_session as a command-and-control channel in a live criminal campaign, and described this investigation as one confirmed instance. That is CloudSEK’s assessment of public reporting and this case; it does not establish that MCP is generally unsafe or that an AI autonomously chose targets or negotiated ransoms.
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How this case fits into The Gentlemen ransomware operation
Microsoft tracks the operators as Storm-2697 and describes The Gentlemen as a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) platform whose affiliates conduct attacks. Microsoft says the group emerged around mid-2025 and began offering its service to affiliates in September 2025. Its attacks use double extortion: stealing sensitive data as well as encrypting it. Microsoft has observed impacts in education, transportation, healthcare and finance across multiple regions.
The affiliate model helps explain why the alleged diversion matters: affiliates conduct intrusions under a broader operation, while the report alleges that Azazel routed victim dealings and proceeds outside the group’s expected arrangement. The allegation about this affiliate should not be treated as proof about other affiliates or the operation’s internal accounts.
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For scale, Check Point’s Q2 2026 ransomware report counted 269 victims posted by The Gentlemen in its tracked leak-site dataset, up 62% quarter over quarter. That was a count of public postings in the report’s dataset—not a complete tally of real-world incidents, and not evidence about the Azazel allegations. The same report said The Gentlemen posted more victims than Qilin in June 2026, 116 versus 72.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What organizations should take from the report
The case highlights two distinct concerns for organizations: ransomware-related data exposure and the possibility that communications or payment demands may come through channels outside a known criminal operation. A ransom demand or a listing on a leak site does not, by itself, verify who controls the intrusion or where a payment would go.
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Microsoft’s technical analysis of The Gentlemen includes mitigations, detections, hunting queries and indicators of compromise for defenders. Organizations dealing with a suspected intrusion should use qualified incident-response support to investigate and contain it, and threat-intelligence resources to understand relevant actors and activity. The cited reporting does not establish a particular provider or service as a recommended choice.
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