The notorious data leak site BreachForums has been taken over by the police.
Cybercrime and data leaks are still being fought, but this is a big win.
A Brief History of BreachForums
As a replacement for the notorious RaidForums, BreachForums has been a hub for hackers since the beginning.
Between early 2015 and February 2022, Raidforums was open and hackers could use it to buy and sell stolen data.
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After it was shut down, BreachForums returned in March 2022 and quickly became a big name in the dark web community.
Before March 2023, when the accused operator, who went by the name “Pompompurin,” was arrested in New York by U.S. police, BreachForums was at its first stage.
People who work with cybercriminals were shocked by this arrest, but it did not mean the end of BreachForums.
A new administrator took over and promised to keep the group running smoothly while Pompompurin was being held.
However, on March 21, 2023, this supervisor said that BreachForums would be shut down because of unresolved problems.
The Beginning of “Baphomet”
With the account name “Baphomet,” another forum leader took over after the shutdown was announced.
BreachForums kept running with Baphomet in charge, making it easier to sell data that had been stolen.
Customer information from 2017 to 2024 stolen from Dell was sold on the site just last week.
The FBI has taken down the BreachForums website and the Telegram account that was linked to it.
Law enforcement officers have been sending messages to the channel on Baphomet’s behalf, which shows that they are in charge of it.
Has Your Data Been Exposed?
The taking down of BreachForums is a big step forward in the fight against hacking.
It would prevent a large market for stolen data from working, which could prevent many data breaches and identity thefts.
Cybercriminals are tough, though, and it will be interesting to see how they deal with this new setback.
People are being asked to protect their personal information by taking action because of these changes.
You can use our free Digital Footprint check to determine how much of your information is available online.
We’ll give you a free report after you fill in the email address you’re interested in (it’s best to use the one you use most often).
This will likely happen on the dark web as officials continue to crack down on cybercriminal activities.
There may be new sites and old ones that are more private. Still, the fact that BreachForums was taken over shows that law enforcement is serious about fighting cybercrime and keeping people’s info safe.
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