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Cybersecurity firm Halcyon alleged in 2023 that Cloudzy, a U.S. internet hosting company, provided infrastructure used for ransomware and other threat activity. Cloudzy denied knowingly hosting malicious activity. The cited reporting does not establish that Cloudzy knowingly facilitated attacks, that a court or regulator found a violation, or that the reported activity continues today.
What Halcyon alleged about Cloudzy
Halcyon described a command-and-control provider (C2P) as a company that offers infrastructure to threat actors while maintaining a legitimate business profile. In its 2023 assessment, Halcyon characterized Cloudzy as a C2P and said it linked two ransomware affiliates—Ghost Clown and Space Kook—to the same internet service provider, Cloudzy. Halcyon said Ghost Clown deployed BlackBasta ransomware and Space Kook deployed Royal ransomware. CyberScoop reported Halcyon’s findings; Halcyon published its own report summary.
Halcyon also said Cloudzy accepted cryptocurrency for anonymous use of Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) virtual private server services. It assessed that users of Cloudzy infrastructure included groups tied to Chinese, Iranian, North Korean, Russian, Indian, Pakistani, and Vietnamese governments, along with criminal syndicates, ransomware affiliates, and a sanctioned Israeli spyware vendor. These are Halcyon’s assessments, not official government attributions established by the cited material.
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Repair common Windows errors and clear accumulated junk for a smoother, more stable PC - no reinstall needed.Free scan · no reinstallHow to interpret Halcyon’s 40%–60% estimate
Halcyon estimated that 40%–60% of activity leveraging Cloudzy services could be considered malicious. CyberScoop reported the range as “at least 40% – 60%.” This is a researcher estimate about activity on Cloudzy’s services, not a measurement of the internet hosting industry as a whole. The range and its uncertainty should remain attached to Halcyon’s assessment; the cited sources do not independently validate it.
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How Halcyon said it identified infrastructure
Halcyon said it used RDP hostnames found in attack-infrastructure metadata as a pivot to identify the service provider and possible precursor infrastructure. Its report recommends that technical teams search their networks for the indicators of compromise listed in the report and monitor the 11 RDP hostnames it identified. Those are Halcyon’s methods and recommendations, not independently validated guidance in the cited sources. The report’s indicators are most relevant to teams able to assess their own telemetry and determine whether any match warrants investigation.
What Cloudzy said in response
CyberScoop updated its story on August 14, 2023, to include Cloudzy’s response. Cloudzy said the claim that it knowingly serves criminals and state-sponsored hackers was false and unsubstantiated. It said it terminates abuse when identified, acts on legitimate abuse reports, and cooperates with law enforcement. In its published response, the company stated: “We do not welcome, tolerate, or knowingly host malicious activity.”
Halcyon CEO and co-founder Jon Miller gave CyberScoop a different account of the company’s response to an abuse notification. Miller said: “When we reached to the third party to let them know that their infrastructure was being abused,” he said, referring to Cloudzy, “they essentially brushed us off. That tipped us off that if they’re brushing off these types of abuse complaints, there’s probably a lot of abuse going on here.” This is Miller’s account of Halcyon’s interaction, as reported by CyberScoop. The cited materials do not independently resolve the disagreement over how Cloudzy handled that contact.
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What the reporting establishes—and what it does not
The reporting concerns Halcyon’s 2023 allegations, not a new assessment of Cloudzy in 2026. The reviewed sources do not independently retest the infrastructure findings or establish the current level of activity. They present Halcyon’s assessment and Cloudzy’s response; they do not determine the company’s intent.
CyberScoop also reported that Halcyon raised potential legal-liability concerns involving the apparent operation of an Iranian business in the United States and federal sanctions requirements. The current eCFR page for the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations sets out the relevant regulations, but a researcher’s concern is not an official legal determination. The cited sources do not establish that Cloudzy violated sanctions or that a court or regulator made such a finding.
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