BreachForums is back – just weeks after the FBI reportedly took down the cybercrime website, it’s reappearing
BreachForums, the infamous hacking forum that was reportedly taken offline by law enforcement earlier this month, is apparently back online and ready to serve customers.
Multiple reports claim that the site is back on both the dark web and clearnet, apparently under the control of ShinyHunters – previously one of the forum’s senior administrators.
A successor to RaidForums (raided and shut down in 2015), BreachForums were set up to help hackers easily share malware, stolen data, and other warez. It was first targeted by the FBI in March 2023, when its then-owner and super-manager, Conor Brian Fitzpatrick, was arrested and later sentenced to 20 years of supervised release.
NiceNIC returns the domains
Earlier this month, the FBI targeted the site again, this time seemingly in a more serious manner, as it defaced the site to show a message saying it had been taken over by law enforcement.
“This website was taken down by the FBI and DOJ with the assistance of international partners,” the site said at the time. “We are reviewing the backend data of this site. If you have information to report on cybercriminal activity on BreachForums, please contact us.”
The site’s two main administrators, alias Baphomet and ShinyHunters, had also been arrested. It was later confirmed that Baphomet was indeed in custody, and his Telegram account was also seized.
ShinyHunters, on the other hand, bragged that none of its members had been arrested and that it planned to restart the site soon.
Soon the site was supported again, but interestingly enough: with the same domains. According to The registerShinyHunters managed to regain access to the crime market site by politely asking NiceNIC, the Hong Kong-based domain registrar that supplies the domains.
Within the broader cybersecurity community, the FBI’s loss of domain control is seen as a major fiasco for the law enforcement agency.