Security News > 2022 > April > Feds Shut Down RaidForums Hacking Marketplace

The Department of Justice unveiled Tuesday that it has seized three domains to affectively shut down the RaidForums website, a major English-language online marketplace for cybercriminals to buy and sell databases stolen from organizations in ransomware and other cyber-attacks.

The seizure of RaidForum's domains means that members can no longer use the site to traffic stolen data, according to the feds.

Since its inception in 2015 RaidForums has sold access to more than 10 billion consumer records stolen in some of the world's largest data breaches.

"The takedown of Raidforums is unlikely to result in a major disruption to overall cybercriminal activity; cybercriminals are well versed to platforms being taken down by and so they remain agile and fluid as to where their next forum of choice is likely to pop-up," wrote Chris Morgan, senior cyber threat intelligence analyst at digital risk protection solution provider Digital Shadows, in an email to Threatpost.

Between 2016 and 2022, RaidForums primarily served as a major online marketplace for individuals to buy and sell hacked or stolen databases that contain sensitive personal and financial information of victims of cyber-attacks in the United States and abroad. Stolen records that could be bought and sold on the forum included: stolen bank routing and account numbers, credit card information, login credentials and social security numbers, according to the feds.

RaidForums acted on a membership business model, charging escalating prices for membership tiers that offered greater access and features, including a top-tier "God" membership status, according to the DoJ. The forum also sold "Credits" that provided members access to privileged areas of the website to download stolen financial information, online credentials and personal identification data from compromised databases, among other items.

News URL

https://threatpost.com/shut-down-raidforums-hacking-marketplace/179279/