An international police operation has stopped the managers from the most important pirated data resale site.
Le Monde
The forum was inaccessible for a month, which had aroused many speculations. Europol announced, Tuesday, April 12, that the lead administrator of Raidforums, one of the major sites in the world concerning the resale and exchange of pirated files, had been arrested . Two accomplices were also arrested, according to Europol, who did not specify the identity or nationality of the three persons arrested. The home page of the site displays, now, a warning informing the visitors that the site has been entered.
These arrests follow an international police operation that lasted a year, and which involved, in addition to Europol, several European police services (Portugal, Sweden, Romania, Germany), the National Crime Agency British and the American FBI.
Forum “Open”
Raidforums, who claimed more than 500 million users, was a very active forum, where we could buy or sell data. The results of very many personal data hacards were available. Unlike other similar forums, Raidforums was relatively “open” and could be consulted, even when it was not a member.
“Targe the forums that host gigantic amounts of stolen data makes it possible to hinder the actions of criminals,” commented Edvardas Sileris, head of the European Center on Europol’s cybercrime. “Europol will continue to work with its international partners to make cybercrime more difficult – and more risky.”