- German police and international partners complete Operation Talent
- The operation saw two forums seized, two individuals arrested, and plenty of money confiscated
- Cracked and Nulled were allegedly the go-to places for facilitating cybercrime
An international law enforcement operation, spearheaded by German authorities and involving Europol, the FBI, and many other European national police forces, has resulted in the takedown of two major hacking forums, multiple arrests, and the seizure of cash and cryptocurrency.
A Europol press release outlined how “Operation Talent” took place between January 28 and 30, and resulted in two arrests, seven properties searched, 17 servers and more than 50 electronic devices seized, and some 300,000 euros and cryptocurrency confiscated.
Perhaps the biggest news, however, is the takedown of two major hacking forums: Cracked, and Nulled, which, Europol says, between them had more than 10 million users.
Operation Talent
“Both of these underground economy forums offered a quick entry point into the cybercrime scene,” Europol explained in the press release. “These sites worked as one-stop shops and were used not only for discussions on cybercrime but also as marketplaces for illegal goods and cybercrime-as-a-service, such as stolen data, malware or hacking tools. Investigators estimate that suspects earned EUR 1 million in criminal profits.”
In the takedown process, law enforcement agents seized 12 domains, and took down the financial processor Sellix and a hosting provider called StartRDP.
Besides Europol and the FBI, the operation included the Australian Federal Police, France’s Anti-Cybercrime Office, Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (which led the entire operation), Prosecutor General’s Office Frankfurt am Main – Cyber Crime Center, Greece’s Hellenic Police, Italy’s State Police, Romania’s General Inspectorate of Romanian Police, Spain’s National Police, and the US Department of Justice.
This is not the first hacking forum law enforcement took down. BreachForums, arguably the largest place of its kind, was shut down in April 2023, following the arrest of its administrator, Conor Brian Fitzpatrick. In its place, Breached was formed, and is today the go-to place for all things cybercrime.
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