US Shuts Down RaidForums, a Hacking Site Trading in Stolen Information
Law enforcement has shut down RaidForums, a popular site that hackers used to buy and sell access to stolen databases, including information on user passwords, credit card details, and Social Security numbers.
The US Department of Justice has seized RaidForum’s internet domain, and federal prosecutors have charged a 21-year-old Portuguese citizen named Diogo Santos Coelho for his role as chief administrator of the site.
Police in the UK arrested Coelho in South London on Jan. 31. He has since been “released under investigation,” and the US is seeking his extradition to face trial. According to Europol, two other accomplices of Coelho were also arrested.
The site was started in 2015 as an online venue to support targeted online harassment, known as raids. However, the forum quickly became a destination to trade hacked information, such as stolen databases from major websites and companies.
According to the Justice Department, RaidForums offered access to over 10 billion unique records on people in the US and across the globe. The site was also available on the open internet at Raidforums.com, instead of the dark web.
“The takedown of this online market for the resale of hacked or stolen data disrupts one of the major ways cybercriminals profit from the large-scale theft of sensitive personal and financial information,” Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. said in a statement.
RaidForums mysteriously went down in late February, which set off speculation that the site had been seized, according to the security firm Flashpoint.
RaidForums’ chief administrator is now facing a six-count indictment that charges him with conspiracy, access device fraud, and aggravated identity theft. The US claims Coelho
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