U.S. and European law enforcement have seized the database from LeakBase, which prosecutors have touted as “one of the world’s largest online forums for cybercriminals” for sharing stolen passwords and hacking tools.
U.S. and European police seized the site earlier this week, and say its database has over 142,000 members and more than 215,000 messages sent between members.
LeakBase has been operating since 2021, the authorities said, and had a continuously maintained archive of hacked databases, including hundreds of millions of account credentials, credit card numbers, and banking account and routing information.
This is the latest takedown targeting sites that trade in stolen credentials, which are increasingly used to break into people’s accounts and steal data and cryptocurrency.
Europol said in a statement that around 100 enforcement actions were taken worldwide, including measures taken against the top 37 active users on the forum. Earlier on Wednesday, the FBI redirected the site’s domain to nameservers controlled by the agency, effectively shutting the site down.
Leakbase now displays a seizure notice, saying that the forum’s contents, private messages, and IP address logs have been preserved. According to The Record, which interviewed FBI’s cyber official Brett Leatherman, the investigation resulted in over 13 arrests, searches, and interviews with 33 suspects, and capturing the forum’s entire database.
