Despite the site owner’s arrest months ago, the US government seems to have finally captured a surface web domain associated with the infamous cybercrime market BreachForums.
Visitors to breached.vc will see the following notification: “Domains associated with violating forums have been seized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Inspector General, and the Department of Justice pursuant to the following provisions.” U.S. Secret Service, taken in parallel with the Homeland Security Investigation As part of its law enforcement actions, specifically with seizure warrants issued under U.S. Sections 18.981 and 982 by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, the New York City Police, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the Dutch National Police , Australian Federal Police, British National Crime Agency, Scottish Police. “
Read more about BreachForums: BreachForums closed after arrest of admin.
Authorities displayed both the BreachForums logo and the avatar used by its owner, “Pompompurin” (a.k.a. Connor Fitzpatrick), with the addition of digitally altered handcuffs.
It’s unclear why it took three months to reach this stage after Fitzpatrick’s arrest. At the time, the administrator “Baphomet” wrote that he would close the site out of fear that investigators had accessed the server.
Shortly after, the new BreachForums site opened and the original Breached site was warned not to trust it.
Fitzpatrick, 20, of Peekskill, New York, has been charged with running a breach forum since March 2022, which enabled cybercriminals to trade stolen data and other contraband. It is
The DOJ therefore alleges that he is responsible for the violations of millions of U.S. victims and hundreds of U.S. and foreign organizations and agencies.
In addition to the legitimate BreachForums domain, the Fed also seized a domain once owned by Pompompurin, which is now owned by infringement notification site DataBreaches. They are currently in the process of “unlocking” breathes.net.
