US and EU police shut down LeakBase, a site accused of sharing stolen passwords and hacking tools
Source: TechCrunch
LeakBase Seized by US and EU Law Enforcement
U.S. and European police have seized the database from LeakBase, which prosecutors described as “one of the world’s largest online forums for cybercriminals” for sharing stolen passwords and hacking tools. The site, operating since 2021, hosted over 142,000 members and more than 215,000 messages exchanged between them. Its archive contained hundreds of millions of compromised account credentials, credit card numbers, and banking information.
Image Credits: TechCrunch (screenshot)
Details of the Takedown
The coordinated operation resulted in around 100 enforcement actions worldwide, including measures against the top 37 active users on the forum. Europol noted these actions in a statement.
Earlier on Wednesday, the FBI redirected LeakBase’s domain to nameservers controlled by the agency, effectively shutting the site down.
Seizure Notice
LeakBase now displays a seizure notice at its former address (), indicating that the forum’s contents, private messages, and IP address logs have been preserved. According to The Record (which interviewed FBI cyber official Brett Leatherman), the investigation led to:
- Over 13 arrests
- Searches and interviews with 33 suspects
- The capture of the forum’s entire database: .
Image Credits: Europol