BreachForums, the infamous cybercrime forum, has recently reopened under the same management that ran it before its closure by the authorities. This reappearance has raised concerns among security researchers, who feared a definitive blow to the market for hacked databases and malware creators that the forum had facilitated. At the same time, criminal users are relieved to regain their reputation and data, which they feared they had lost after the site’s closure.
On the Internet, no one can hear your screams
In a statement titled “Statement on BreachForums,” an administrator under the pseudonym “NA” assured that no core team member was arrested in the March intervention. The forum’s domain was voluntarily suspended in April due to a zero-day vulnerability in the MyBB software, the platform that supports the forum. After addressing this breach, the administrators claimed they were able to restore the domain and that users regained access to their accounts, posts, and reputations without alterations.
This return to activity maintains an impressive database: more than 7.3 million posts in over 13,000 threads, figures that match the record taken days before the closure. This suggests that the forum operators kept secure offline backups and never handed over the encryption keys. Additionally, the forum presents a “renewed moderation system” and promises regular updates on the legal challenges it faces, although there is skepticism about the effectiveness of these changes.
In this context, the reappearance of BreachForums raises serious doubts about the impact of previous legal actions and the ability of authorities to curb these online criminal activities.