Security News > 2023 > March > Breached hacking forum shuts down, fears it's not 'safe' from FBI
The notorious Breached hacking forum has shut down after the remaining administrator, Baphomet, disclosed that they believe law enforcement has access to the site's servers.
Breached was a popular hacking and data leak forum notorious for hosting, leaking, and selling data obtained from breached companies, governments, and various organizations.
Breached was the spiritual successor of the RaidForums forum, frequented by many users before the FBI seized it in April 2022, a few months after the arrest of its founder, 'Omnipotent,' in the UK. The Breached hacking forum has been in disarray since last Friday when the news broke that its founder and owner, Pompompurin, was arrested by the FBI. Since the arrest, the remaining admin, Baphomet, had taken the site offline while transferring it to new infrastructure secured from potential compromise by law enforcement.
Due to fears that Pompompurin's devices are now in the hands of law enforcement, and thus they have had access to the Breached infrastructure, Baphomet has decided to shut down Breached for good and let its community members choose where they are heading next.
The Telegram channel will remain up for now, while Baphomet said he would continue to have an online presence, discussing with other forum owners and potentially helping build something new.
As hacking forums are seized by law enforcement, BleepingComputer has seen threat actors migrating to Telegram as new channels can easily be launched as existing ones are shut down.