Notorious hacking forum shuts down after admin arrested

Final week, FBI arrests a man allegedly “Pompompurin”, the administrator of the infamous and well-liked Violation Boards. Days after his arrest, the brand new supervisor of the cybercrime web site, these shutting down the discussion board for good.

“Please contemplate this the ultimate replace for Breached,” wrote the brand new admin, often called “Baphomet”, on his official Telegram channel. “I’ll now shut the discussion board as I imagine we will assume that nothing is secure. I do know everybody desires to maneuver the discussion board up, however by supporting Breached as it’s, the short-term acquire is value nothing, regardless of the opportunity of a long-term loss.”

New supervisor Baphomet didn’t reply to our request for remark.

This seen The tip of the Violation Boards got here practically a yr after a global coalition of legislation enforcement led by the US Division of Justice. hijacked RaidForums, one other infamous cybercrime discussion board the place hacked databases will likely be marketed and bought. Breach Boards was born after the demise of RaidForums and served just about the identical goal and viewers.

“I wish to be clear that whereas this primary announcement was not constructive, it isn’t the final. I’ll arrange one other Telegram group for many who wish to see extra. Baphomet, you have got each proper to hate me and disagree with my resolution, however I promise that what comes subsequent will likely be higher for all of us,” he mentioned. wrote Baphomet. “Give me 24 hours to relaxation somewhat and take into consideration easy methods to transfer ahead from right here. After that, I will be again on-line and we’ll discuss. I am not going wherever.

In an hooked up message signed with Baphomet’s PGP key to show that it was certainly written by them, they wrote that authorities have been capable of confirm that they’d entry to Pompompurin’s machine.

Baphomet defined that whereas migrating the discussion board’s servers, he discovered that somebody had logged into one of many servers earlier than they did.

“Sadly, this results in the conclusion that somebody in all probability has entry to the Poms machine. Any server we use isn’t shared with anybody else, so somebody must know the credentials of that server earlier than they’ll log in. Now nothing is taken into account safe, whether or not it is details about our configurations, our supply code, or our customers.” I really feel like I have been put able the place it will possibly’t be completed—the record is countless,” Baphomet wrote. “This implies I am unable to confirm that the discussion board is secure, which has been an enormous purpose from the beginning of this crap present.”

The feds accuse Conor Brian Fitzpatrick of being a Pompompurin, who faces costs in New York and the Jap District of Virginia. Fitzpatrick is accused of conspiracy to commit entry machine fraud.

On Monday, three days after Fitzpatrick’s arrest and earlier than they discovered that somebody had accessed one of many servers, Baphomet introduced that they have been shifting the discussion board servers to maintain the Breach Boards alive.

This plan is not in impact, however Baphomet mentioned it isn’t the top.

“As for what which means now, it is difficult. “Not like when different communities collapsed and everybody dispersed, stupidly I might nonetheless be round,” they wrote.

“Though the Breached neighborhood will die, I’ll proceed to interact with a number of the competing discussion board moderators and varied service operators who’ve reached out to me over the previous few days. With a few of these folks, a brand new neighborhood can have the most effective options of Breached and cut back the assault surfaces that we’ve by no means correctly addressed. As with issues like this, I’ve little doubt that our consumer base may be absorbed by one other neighborhood, but when there may be persistence, I hope to convey again one thing that may rival different communities that may take our place.”

Have you learnt about BreachForums? We might love to listen to from you. From a non-working machine, you may securely contact Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai on Sign at +1 917 257 1382 or by way of Wickr, Telegram and Wire @lorenzofb or by emailing lorenzo@techcrunch.com. You may as well contact TechCrunch by way of SecureDrop.