Famous hacker forum Breached closed due to law enforcement access
The famous hacker forum Breached has been closed down by its administrator following concerns that law enforcement agencies have access to the site servers. The closure comes after 21-year-old Conor Brian Fitzpatrice, the founder and owner of the Breachforums, was recently arrested. Fitzpatrice, who was known as Pompupurin, handed over all his powers to an administrator named Baphomet, who subsequently closed the site and transferred it to a new infrastructure designed to prevent compromise by law enforcement agencies. However, this process was slow to complete, with Baphomet and his team trying to maintain operational security (OPSEC) to evade tracking by law enforcement agencies.
Despite their efforts, Baphomet acknowledged that the plan had failed. It transpired that federal authorities probably had access to Fitzpatrice’s personal computer, enabling them to infiltrate the Breached server when it was first disconnected. The specialists were surprised to find someone enter the old CDN server on March 19, which suggested that the authorities had entered and accessed some of the important data.
Baphomet explained that the servers used by Breachforums were always separate from other servers. Therefore, any unauthorised access meant that the accounting data for the server must have been accessed.
Baphomet said that forum configurations, source code, and user data were all at risk of being compromised. Fearing that Fitzpatrice’s equipment was in the hands of the authorities, allowing them access to the Breached infrastructure, Baphomet opted to shut down the forum permanently, encouraging members to move elsewhere. The move came as part of an effort to protect the community’s safety.
Breached had a Telegram channel that would remain open, and Baphomet would still communicate with other forum owners while helping to create new and safer avenues for online community communication.