BreachForums has served as a data sharing and reselling platform for thousands of cybercriminals. The site administrator was arrested by the FBI, the American federal police.
The hacker community does not sleep well. The American media outlet Bloomberg reported this Saturday, March 18, 2023, that the FBI has arrested the administrator of the most notorious hacker forum, BreachForums. Conor Brian Fitzpatrick, aka Pompompurine, was arrested at his home in New York State on Wednesday, March 15, by US federal police. The young man admitted that he created this site, which became the main platform and marketplace in the community of hackers and cybercriminals.
BreachForums is barely celebrating its first anniversary since Pompompurine launched this forum on March 14, 2022. This new site was to replace RaidForums, a historic exchange site closed after its creator was arrested in January 2022. Like its predecessor, BreachForums is available online, just create an account to discuss and view many posts. The site quickly attracted hackers by recovering most of the databases previously published on RaidForums.
Open access also contributes to its popularity, and many cybercriminals favor a platform for quickly selling stolen databases. “Pompompurine ran the forum and actively encouraged the hacks and leaks that took place there,” Allan Liska, a cyberthreat analyst at Recorded Future, told Bloomberg. The most important leaks of 2022 have been put up for sale on Breach.
The admin profile has been inactive since March 15 when it was closed. // Source: Numerama
BreachForums cat questionable
In total, more than 1,000 databases stolen from companies were sold or simply posted for free access on the forum. The platform became an exchange zone among hackers: many went there to discuss and learn the latest cyber news.
The site administrator himself was involved in cybercriminal activities. In November 2021, he announced that he had infiltrated the FBI program. Conor Brian Fitzpatrick was also funded by “loans” from members of the forum. To be able to publish without restrictions, it was necessary to pay small amounts to the platform. At the moment, only one charge has been brought against the young man: “preparation to commit the crime of hacking into a computer system.” He appeared in federal court in White Plains, New York and was released on a $300,000 bail signed by his parents.
On the forum, we spend hours reflecting on the consequences of this arrest. Numerama notes that the site has already been taken over by a new administrator under the pseudonym Baphomet. On the evening of March 18, he stated: “I think it can be assumed that he [Pompompurin] will not return and so I will take over the forum. I have most if not all of the access needed to secure the BF infrastructure and users. […] I am constantly monitoring everything and checking all accounts to see if there have been any accesses or changes to the compromised infrastructure. So far nothing of the kind has been found. »
Some have speculated that the site may have survived because Pompompurin’s computer was not confiscated. However, RaidForums was shut down just three months after the administrator’s arrest. The pirates are still in the fog.
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