FBI, EU police dismantle Leakbase cybercrime forum

Operation Leak dismantled the dark web forum

Hacking forum and marketplace Leakbase has been taken down by the FBI and European law enforcement agencies as part of Operation Leak, according to The Record, a news site by cybersecurity firm Recorded Future.

Operation Leak has enabled not only the dismantling of the subscription-based cybercrime forum's hosting infrastructure and the seizure of its entire database, but also the arrest of 13 individuals and interviews with 33 suspects, said FBI Cyber Division Assistant Director Brett Leatherman.

Such an operation against Leakbase — which has more than 142,000 members and has been regarded by Flare as among the most advanced dark web forums — was noted by Leatherman to be adherent to the U.S.'s upcoming national cyber strategy, which seeks to transfer risk burdens to cyber adversaries.

"We expect that these actors who've been arrested will potentially have information or evidence that would help us move upstream against other actors. But if these actors do go to another platform believing that they're anonymous, they should recognize that we're going to follow them and that we have tremendous capability, us and our partners, to de-anonymize them," he added.

Written by

Sharon Florentine Editorial Director

Sharon Florentine is the editorial director for CyberRisk Alliance’s Channel Brands and acting editorial director for SC UK. She is responsible for setting strategy and editorial direction and developing content for news, features, analysis and other written content, moderates live webcasts, and oversees research projects. Sharon has previously held key editorial, content and leadership positions at DevOps.com, Security Boulevard, CIO.com, Ziff Davis Enterprise, and CRN, among others.