BreachForums

BreachForums was an English-language black hat hacking crime forum active from 2022 to 2023. The website acted as an alternative and later successor to RaidForums following its shutdown and seizure in 2022.[1][2] Like its predecessor, BreachForums allowed for the discussion of various hacking topics and distributed data breaches, pornography, hacking tools and various other services.

BreachForums
Screenshot
BreachForums homepage (March 19, 2023)
Type of site
Internet forum
Available inEnglish
DissolvedMarch 21, 2023 (2023-03-21)
Predecessor(s)RaidForums
Country of originUnited States
Founder(s)Conor Brian Fitzpatrick, also known by his screen name "pompompurin"
URL
AdvertisingYes
CommercialYes
RegistrationOptional
Users336,800 at time of shutdown
LaunchedMarch 4, 2022 (2022-03-04)
Current statusDefunct

History

The forum was founded and owned in March 2022 by then-19 year old Conor Brian Fitzpatrick, known on the forum under the screen name "pompompurin".[3] Fitzpatrick's identity on the internet had been based on the Japanese character by Sanrio of the same name. Fitzpatrick had, a year earlier, claimed responsibility for the 2021 FBI email hack.[4]

Controversy

On December 10, 2022 a member of the forum identified by the screen name "USDoD" posted a thread offering the sale of a database containing the information of over 80,000 members of the FBI non-profit organization and information portal InfraGard. The individual claimed to have obtained access to the portal through a social engineering attack in which they pretended to be the CEO of an unknown U.S. financial corporation.[5]

On March 9, 2023 another member identifying under the screen name "Denfur" posted a thread containing 200 entries originating from a breach of the District of Columbia health insurance marketplace DC Health Link, claiming that more information was to come. The D.C. Health Benefit Exchange Authority later stated that more than 56,000 customers had been impacted by the breach, but original posts relating to the data claim to have the information of over 170,000 customers.[6][7]

Arrest and shutdown

On March 15, 2023 Fitzpatrick was arrested by law enforcement and charged with conspiracy to commit access device fraud.[3][8] Following Fitzpatrick's arrest, another forum administrator under the screen name "Baphomet" took ownership of the website and its infrastructure. However, following Baphomet's suspicion of the forum being compromised, on March 21, 2023, it was shut down.[9]

As of April 2023 the website displays a HTTP 502 error.[10]

See also

References
  1. "Welcome & FAQ Thread | BreachForums". BreachForums. March 16, 2022. Archived from the original on December 18, 2022. Retrieved March 28, 2023.
  2. "Justice Department Announces Arrest of the Founder of One of the World's Largest Hacker Forums and Disruption of Forum's Operation". United States Department of Justice. Archived from the original on March 28, 2023. Retrieved March 28, 2023.
  3. Lakshmanan, Ravie. "20-Year-Old BreachForums Founder Faces Up to 5 Years in Prison". The Hacker News. Archived from the original on April 2, 2023. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
  4. Podkul, Cezary. "Despite Decades of Hacking Attacks, Companies Leave Vast Amounts of Sensitive Data Unprotected". ProPublica. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
  5. Krebs, Brian. "FBI's Vetted Info Sharing Network 'InfraGard' Hacked". KrebsOnSecurity. KrebsOnSecurity. Archived from the original on April 2, 2023. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
  6. Vicens, AJ. "Hacker tied to D.C. Health Link breach says attack 'born out of Russian patriotism'". CyberScoop. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
  7. Bajak, Frank. "Congress members warned of significant health data breach". AP News. Associated Press. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
  8. "United States v. Fitzpatrick" (PDF). Courtlistener. United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. p. 29. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
  9. Arntz, Pieter. "BreachForums to be shut down after all for fear of law enforcement infiltration". Malwarebytes. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
  10. "BreachForums". BreachForums. Archived from the original on April 2, 2023. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
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