BreachForums Breached, Exposing 324K Cybercriminals

BreachForums has been breached again, exposing the real identities of hundreds of thousands of cybercriminals who believed they operated anonymously. On 9 January, an individual using the moniker “James” published a database containing detailed information on 323,986 BreachForums users on a site apparently named after the ShinyHunters extortion group.

The data includes usernames, email addresses, IP addresses, registration dates and other metadata that could help law enforcement agencies globally identify and prosecute members of the hacking community. According to Resecurity, which analysed the leaked data and published a comprehensive report, the information is authentic and contains emails in clear text and other details that could be useful to investigators.

The manifesto James published also names individuals allegedly involved in running BreachForums and ShinyHunters, and notes past collaborations between the groups and attacks on French targets. BreachForums is a successor to RaidForums, which US authorities shut down in 2022.