Unmasking ‘The Gentlemen’: How a Russian Marketing Executive Built the Web’s Most Aggressive Ransomware Machine
Executive Overview In the highly competitive cybercrime ecosystem, a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) syndicate known as The Gentlemen has staged a dramatic rise to become the second most active ransomware operation globally by victim count. Launched in mid-2025, the group’s meteoric growth—claiming at least 332 published victims, including more than 240 in 2026 alone—has been fueled by…