Breach Forums Admin ShinyHunters Claims Domain Reclaimed from FBI

ShinyHunters, the hacker group and primary administrator of Breach Forums informed Hackread.com that they regained access to the forum’s clear net and dark web domains on May 16, 2024. This also included the Escrow domain and a parked domain, Breached.in.

In an exclusive conversation with Hackread.com, ShinyHunters revealed that one of the Breach Forums’ administrators, operating under the alias Baphomet, had been apprehended by law enforcement. Consequently, authorities gained access to login credentials for the entire infrastructure of Breach Forums, including the backend.

However, on Friday, ShinyHunters contacted the domain registrar of Breach Forums and successfully regained access. Hence, at the time of writing, the seizure notice from the clear net domain of Breach Forums was removed, and it was replaced with a “Site Temporarily Unavailable” message. Additionally, a link to a Telegram group chat operated by ShinyHunters and other moderators of the forum was provided.

What Breach Forums look like at the time of writing (Screenshot: Hackread.com)

A Quick Background:

ShinyHunters’ claims emerged just a day following Hackread.com’s report on the FBI’s seizure of Breach Forums, a platform notorious for cybercrime, hacking, data breaches, and leaks.

While widely circulated, there has been no official confirmation of the operation from law enforcement agencies. On May 15, 2024, all domains associated with Breach Forums were defaced with a seizure notice by the FBI.

The notice on these sites revealed the involvement of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Department of Justice (DoJ), and international partners from New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Ukraine, and Iceland.

This is what the forum’s dark web domain looks like at the time of writing – ShinyHunters alleges that authorities have private keys for the dark web domains which will allow them to access it so expect a tug-of-war between both parties (Screenshot: Hackread.com)

Breach Forums Goes Down, New Forums Gearing Up to Surface

The cycle of cybercrime continues unabated. Authorities dismantle one forum, only for another to emerge within days. This trend is evident in the case of Breach Forums. A member of Breach Forums and a notorious threat actor known as USDoD has announced plans to resurrect the forum with the same theme and format but under a different name.

According to USDoD, the new forum will be called Breach Nation instead of Breach Forums. This mirrors the pattern seen with the takedown of Raid Forums and the subsequent emergence of Breach Forums. However, it’s worth noting that this trajectory did not end well for the administrator PomPomPurin, who was arrested in New York and received a 20-year supervised sentence.

Nevertheless, Hackread.com continues to monitor the situation closely. This article will be updated accordingly, and readers can expect new reports as soon as federal authorities in the United States release official confirmation and provide clarity on the situation.