Hacker caught double-crossing The Gentlemen ransomware gang, diverting victims to keep all the loot
The so-called ransomware turncoat used MCP and reverse PowerShell to deceive the gang in a novel AI attack chain.
The Gentlemen dark leak site. Image by Cybernews
Follow us
- An affiliate called Azazel secretly diverted The Gentlemen's victims to keep ransomware payments instead of sharing proceeds.
- Exposed infrastructure held 50TB, including about 6TB stolen from more than two dozen victims across six countries.
- Azazel operated separate servers and a LEAKNED leak site without The Gentlemen's apparent knowledge.
- Researchers say Azazel connected AI tools to compromised systems, revealing a previously unreported attack method.
Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.
An affiliate of The Gentlemen ransomware group was discovered running their own operational infrastructure and leak site in parallel with the gang – all to siphon off victims and keep the extortion money for themselves.
50TB of exposed infrastructure
The Russian-speaking affiliate “Azazel” and their clandestine setup was first discovered by CloudSEK security researchers via an “exposed open directory and a misconfigured storage server” – with the threat actor completely unaware that their 50TB infrastructure had even been invaded.
One exposed server gave up an entire ransomware operation. A Gentlemen affiliate breached 2 dozen+ orgs across 6 countries via stolen CI/CD secrets, then ran attacks through an AI assistant over MCP, a technique with no prior public reporting. https://t.co/KYDy450fUM
undefined CloudSEK (@cloudsek) October 6, 2026
Publishing a blog on the findings Monday, CloudSEK says Azazel was holding onto more than two dozen victim directories, including roughly 6TB of data stolen from victims across six countries.
In fact, CloudSEK says they were able to observe the affiliate infrastructure operating live, at one point watching "gigabytes" of one victim's exfiltration flow seamlessly to the hacker's storage server in real time.
Victims spanned various sectors, from logistics, insurance, and AI to medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and government-adjacent infrastructure, CloudSEK said.
In total, researchers found more than 29TB of raw storage across two servers run by the backstabber.
No honor among ransomware thieves
Ripping off a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) gang is complicated stuff, apparently.
CloudSEK says Azazel built and operated an entire ransomware ecosystem on their own, completely independent of The Gentlemen.
This extortion system included its very own leak site, branded “LEAKNED,” and, running the gamut, would publish victims' data and facilitate handsome payouts – all without the knowledge of its ransomware host, it appears.
Affiliates typically give an RaaS group a cut of their proceeds, often in exchange for using that group’s infrastructure or signature malware strain to carry out attacks.
AI enters the affiliate playbook
CloudSEK researchers also uncovered what they describe as a novel AI-powered attack chain, with Azazel using the Model Context Protocol (MCP) alongside reverse PowerShell to help carry out attacks.
The setup allowed the threat actor to connect AI tooling with malicious infrastructure, effectively turning MCP into a conduit between the AI agent and compromised systems.
Researchers said the technique offered them a rare glimpse into how ransomware affiliates are beginning to operationalize AI during live attacks.
