Disclosure context

About Cloak

Cloak is a relatively new ransomware group that emerged in August 2023, operating with primarily financial motivations and demonstrating a broad international targeting scope with 162 documented victims across multiple sectors. The group's origin and specific affiliations remain undocumented in public threat intelligence reporting, though their operational patterns suggest they may operate independently rather than as part of a larger ransomware-as-a-service ecosystem. Limited public documentation exists regarding their specific attack methodologies, encryption techniques, or data exfiltration practices, though their targeting patterns indicate sophisticated capabilities to compromise organizations across diverse sectors including business services, technology, healthcare, and manufacturing. The group has demonstrated a preference for targeting victims in English-speaking countries and Western Europe, with the United States, Germany, United Kingdom, Canada, and Italy representing their primary geographic focus areas. Cloak appears to remain active as of current reporting, though the relative scarcity of detailed public analysis from major threat intelligence firms suggests either operational security effectiveness or a lower profile compared to more established ransomware operations. The group has been linked to 162 public disclosures across our corpus. First observed on a leak site on August 24, 2023; most recent post February 24, 2026. The operation is currently active.

Timeline of this disclosure

August 9, 2025Wstg-steuerberater.de listed by Cloakon the group's public leak site

Sector and geography

This disclosure adds to ransomware activity in the Business Services sector, which has 2,640 disclosures indexed across all operators we track. Geographically, Wstg-steuerberater.de is reported in Germany, a country with 695 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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H&H WSTG Wirtschafts- und Steuerberatungsgesellschaft mbH

listed as Wstg-steuerberater.de · Claimed by Cloak · listed 9 months ago

Age

since listed · data leaked

Status timeline

Listed
Aug 9, 2025
Data leaked

At a glance

Group: Cloak
Status: Data leaked
Country: Germany
Sector: Business Services
Listed on leak site: Aug 9, 2025

About the victim

AI dossier — public-source company profile

H&H WSTG is a mid-market tax advisory and accounting firm based in the Rhine-Ruhr region and Bergisches Land area of Germany. Founded over 30 years ago by Frank Hoffmann (tax consultant) and Stephan Hofmann (office manager), the firm serves primarily mid-sized industrial, retail, manufacturing, and professional service clients with tax consulting and commercial accounting services.

Industry: Tax Advisory & Accounting Services

Attack summary

Severity: medium — Tax advisory firm likely processes sensitive financial and personal information for mid-sized business clients. Data disclosure confirmed ('data_published' status) but no proof files quantified, no ransom stated, and no specific data inventory claimed by the group. Moderate sensitivity due to financial/tax data exposure at scale.

The Cloak ransomware group claims to have compromised H&H WSTG and published data. The group's post does not specify the nature of the compromise (encryption, exfiltration, or both) or describe specific data categories at stake.

medium

Data the group says was taken

AI dossier — extracted from the leak post

Client tax records
Financial statements
Accounting documents
Client personal/business information

What the group claims

Seit über dreißig Jahren betreuen Frank Hoffmann und Stephan Hofmann zuverlässig Mandanten an Rhein und Ruhr und aus dem Bergischen Land.

Sources

Victim siteWstg-steuerberater.de

Source

Indexed 9 months 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.