Disclosure context

About Stormous

Stormous is a relatively new ransomware group that emerged in March 2022, operating primarily with financial motivations and has claimed responsibility for attacks against at least 165 victims across multiple countries and sectors. The group's country of origin remains unclear from publicly documented sources, though their operational patterns suggest they may operate as an independent entity rather than a established ransomware-as-a-service model. Limited public documentation from major security firms indicates the group employs common ransomware tactics, though specific details about their initial access vectors, encryption methods, and data exfiltration practices have not been extensively detailed in reports from CISA, FBI, or major threat intelligence providers. Their targeting appears geographically diverse with a focus on Spain, the United States, France, UAE, and Brazil, while showing particular interest in technology, hospitality and tourism, government, and business services sectors, though many of their victims span unspecified industries. As of current reporting, Stormous appears to remain an active threat, though the limited public documentation suggests they operate as a lower-tier ransomware group compared to more prominent families that receive extensive coverage from major security research organizations. The group has been linked to 220 public disclosures across our corpus. First observed on a leak site on March 22, 2022; most recent post May 13, 2026. The operation is currently active.

Timeline of this disclosure

May 12, 2026Consumer Goods Council of South Africa listed by Stormouson the group's public leak site

Data size: 20GB
Records: thousands of clients
Ransom demanded: $900

Sector and geography

This disclosure adds to ransomware activity in the Consumer Goods sector. Geographically, Consumer Goods Council of South Africa is reported in South Africa, a country with 11 ransomware disclosures in our corpus.

How we know this. Darkfield monitors public ransomware leak sites continuously, archiving every new disclosure and the data later released against the victim. Each entry on this page is sourced from the operator's own publication and cross-checked against complementary OSINT feeds (RansomLook, ransomware.live, RansomWatch). We do not collect or host stolen data — only the metadata, timestamps and screenshots needed to make the public disclosure searchable and accountable. Records here are corrected when the original post is edited, retracted, or merged with another disclosure.

Ransomware victim disclosure

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Consumer Goods Council of South Africa

Claimed by Stormous · listed 9 days ago

20GB

Data size

thousands of clients records

$900

Ransom

demanded

Age

since listed · data leaked

Status timeline

Listed
May 12, 2026
Data leaked

At a glance

Group: Stormous
Status: Data leaked
Country: South Africa
Sector: Consumer Goods
Listed on leak site: May 12, 2026
Data size: 20GB
Records: thousands of clients
Ransom demanded: $900
Sale price: free

About the victim

AI dossier — public-source company profile

The Consumer Goods Council of South Africa (CGCSA) is an industry association based in South Africa representing over 9,000 member companies in the Consumer Goods, Retail and Services sectors. It provides advocacy, lobbying, food safety and sustainability guidance, crime risk management, global standards (GS1), and regulatory advisory services. It is one of the largest employer-sector associations in South Africa.

Industry: Consumer Goods & Retail Industry Association
Address: South Africa (specific street address not stated on public site)

Attack summary

Severity: high — The group claims confirmed exfiltration of 20 GB of data including thousands of client records and financial/operational data, with data already published publicly for free; however, no confirmed regulated personal health or government data at scale is explicitly described, placing this at high rather than critical.

Stormous claims to have exfiltrated 20 GB of data from CGCSA after the organisation publicly denied the breach and failed to pay the demanded ransom; the stolen data has reportedly been published for free on Mega, and includes customer records, financial reports, CEO reports, invoices, scripts/statements, and full database backups.

high

Data the group says was taken

AI dossier — extracted from the leak post

Full customer data (thousands of clients)
Invoices and CEO reports
Scripts and statements
TCS CGCSA database backup
CGCSA ACC backup
SAGE200EVOSQL full database backup

What the group claims

We releasing the databases of CGCSA.CO.ZA (Consumer Goods Council of South Africa) for free. This comes after the company failed to reach a resolution and publicly denied the breach.

The leak post

captured from the group's site

ams-group.co.uk FULL DATA DUMP 33GB
ams-group.co.uk FULL DATA DUMP 33GB
The extracted data comprises administrative and financial records, payroll sheets, and client and partner directories, alongside technical and engineering specifications, employee records, and business plans. It also includes architectural designs, official contracts, detailed engineering reports, and construction site maps, as well as risk assessments, internal correspondence, and tax and legal information.
We releasing the databases of CGCSA.CO.ZA (Consumer Goods Council of South Africa) for free. This comes after the company failed to reach a resolution and publicly denied the breach.The total size is 20 GB and includes.Full Reports CustomerData (thousands of clients) Scripts & Statements Invoices & CEO Reports TCS CGCSA & CGCSA ACC BACKUP SAGE200EVOSQL CGCSA FULL The data has been uploaded to Mega https://mega.nz/folder/siwUDQbL#-c-tWl8fW8zy1tcmEzoUhw
$900k to Solve the Problem 5TB — While TTT Company was preoccupied with designing luxurious interiors and architectural masterpieces, they completely overlooked the design of a secure network. We have spent enough time within their internal infrastructure to c…

Data the group says was taken

full reports
customer data
scripts
statements
invoices
CEO reports
database backups

Sources

Victim sitecgcsa.co.za
Leak posthttp://pdcizqzjitsgfcgqeyhuee5u6uki6zy5slzioinlhx6xjnsw25irdgqd.onion

Source

Indexed 9 days ago

This page surfaces a public ransomware disclosure indexed by Darkfield. Original posts come from the operator's own leak site; we cross-check against ransomware.live, RansomLook and RansomWatch where applicable. Share this URL freely.

Disclosure context

About Stormous

Timeline of this disclosure

Other recent disclosures by Stormous

Sector and geography

Status timeline

At a glance

About the victim

Attack summary

Data the group says was taken

What the group claims

The leak post

Data the group says was taken

Sources

Source