All ransomware incidents
Ransomware group thegentlemen hits Edcon
Edcon — a manufacturing target operating in ZA has been listed by the thegentlemen ransomware group on 2026-09-29. The information below reflects what the threat actor has publicly claimed on their leak site; the details have not been independently verified.
Incident Report
| Target Organization | Edcon |
|---|---|
| Threat Group | thegentlemen |
| Summary | edcon.co.za zoominfo.com/c/edcon/36900910 Edcon (roots from 1929, Johannesburg) was South Africa's largest non-food retailer — owner of iconic chains Edgars, Jet, CNA and Boardmans, with ~1,200 stores across Southern Africa, ~19,000 staff, revenue of R25+ billion and four million private-label credit cards. It was crippled by Bain Capital's 2007 leveraged buyout (~R25 billion), losing market share to discounters before COVID-19 lockdown wiped out R2 billion in sales and forced business rescue in April 2020. The group was then broken up: Jet was sold to The Foschini Group (~R480m), Edgars to Retailability (~R350m, 5,200 jobs saved), CNA and credit books to other buyers. The Edcon holding company itself no longer trades — edcon.co.za is now a business-rescue notice board where practitioners Marsden and Schapiro distribute sale proceeds to creditors (payments started September 2024, proceedings still open as of 2025). |
| Date of Breach | 2026-09-29 |
| Discovery Date | 2026-09-30 |
| Region | ZA |
| Target Domain | edcon.co.za |
| Business Sector | Manufacturing |
| Severity | MEDIUM |
Claim by thegentlemen
edcon.co.za zoominfo.com/c/edcon/36900910 Edcon (roots from 1929, Johannesburg) was South Africa's largest non-food retailer — owner of iconic chains Edgars, Jet, CNA and Boardmans, with ~1,200 stores across Southern Africa, ~19,000 staff, revenue of R25+ billion and four million private-label credit cards. It was crippled by Bain Capital's 2007 leveraged buyout (~R25 billion), losing market share to discounters before COVID-19 lockdown wiped out R2 billion in sales and forced business rescue in April 2020. The group was then broken up: Jet was sold to The Foschini Group (~R480m), Edgars to Retailability (~R350m, 5,200 jobs saved), CNA and credit books to other buyers. The Edcon holding company itself no longer trades — edcon.co.za is now a business-rescue notice board where practitioners Marsden and Schapiro distribute sale proceeds to creditors (payments started September 2024, proceedings still open as of 2025).
Posted by the thegentlemen threat actor on its public leak site. This is the group's own statement and has not been independently verified by HackerFeeds.
Sources
Disclaimer
HackerFeeds does not engage in the exfiltration, downloading, taking, hosting, viewing, reposting, or disclosure of any stolen information. All breach data reported here is sourced from publicly available threat intelligence feeds for awareness purposes only.