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The FBI has once again taken over the notorious cybercrime forum BreachForums in cooperation with international law enforcement agencies.
The site’s online community of hackers and cybercriminals suffered a serious setback on Wednesday when the seizure occurred. BreachForums, which was well-known for having an English-language interface, functioned as a marketplace where illegal activities such as the sale, purchase, and exchange of stolen data were rampant.
The forum gained notoriety recently when it began to display ads with data taken from a Europol portal and personal information taken from Dell customers. BreachForums stood out well against earlier attempts to shut it down. An earlier version of the website was successfully taken by authorities last year, and Conor Brian Fitzpatrick, who ran the website under the pseudonym ‘pompompurin,’ was taken into custody. The forum, which had been active during the previous year across three domains, was revived by a person going by the online handle ‘Baphomet’ after Fitzpatrick was apprehended.
The seizure of BreachForums included taking over Baphomet’s and the forum’s Telegram channels.
Not only did this seizure take down the website, but it also took over both Baphomet’s and the official forum Telegram channel, making the operation a recent and calculated action. An FBI statement announcing their takeover and their assessment of the site’s backend data was shown on both channels. The post ended with a request for information about cybercrime on BreachForums, pointing users to a specific FBI website where they may report such incidents.
BreachForums, kept under different domains including breachforums[.]st, breachforums[.]cx, breachforums[.]is, and breachforums[.]vc, operated openly on the clear net between June 2023 and May 2024, according to the FBI’s official statement on their website. The website was controlled by a person or organisation known as ‘ShinyHunters,’ who made it easier for people to trade hacked databases, hacking tools, stolen access devices, and other criminal services. A Telegram message asking for feedback was not returned by ShinyHunters, though.
It is still not known how the government took over the Telegram channels. Rumours suggest that Baphomet may be taken into custody and have his tools seized or that Telegram may be ordered by a court to cooperate. Regarding the matter, Telegram remained silent.
Former administrator of the infamous forum site Conor Brian Fitzpatrick filed a guilty plea to federal charges in July of last year. Baphomet revived the forum after his capture, which highlights the ongoing difficulty law enforcement has in taking down these cybercrime sites.
The FBI and its foreign allies have made a major effort to stop cybercrime and interfere with illegal internet markets by seizing BreachForums and its related channels.
