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Popular hacking forum BreachForums is shutting down, after its new administrator detected possible law enforcement activity in the site’s back end.
The previous administrator was recently arrested. Conor Brian Fitzpatrick — a 21-year-old from New York who operated online under the pseudonym Pompompurin — was taken into custody last week. After that, another user stepped up to run the forum, but they’ve now admitted that keeping the forum up is now too risky.
“This will be my final update on Breached, as I’ve decided to shut it down. I’m aware this news will not please anyone, but it’s the only safe decision now that I’ve confirmed that the glowies likely have access to Poms machine,” said the site’s new admin, who goes by the name Baphomet, in a message to the site’s users.
“Any servers we use are never shared with anyone else, so someone would have to know the credentials to that server to be able to log in. I now feel like I’m put into a position where nothing can be assumed safe, whether it’s our configs, source code, or information about our users the list is endless. This means that I can’t confirm the forum is safe, which has been a major goal from the start of this shitshow.”
Baphomet is planning on setting up a Telegram group for the site’s users and reaching out to other rival hacking forums for some form of assistance.
“As with things like this, I have no doubt our user base may be absorbed by another community but if there is patience then I hope to bring something back that will rival any other community that can take our place,” Baphomet said.
BreachForums was one of the most popular hacking forums on the dark web, alongside other communities such as Dread and the Russian-speaking XSS.
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.
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