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Scrape Timestamp (UTC): 2025-01-30 13:49:35.492
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Police seizes Cracked and Nulled hacking forum servers, arrests suspects. Europol and German law enforcement confirmed the arrest of two suspects and the seizure of 17 servers in Operation Talent, which took down Cracked and Nulled, two of the largest hacking forums with over 10 million users. Even though some of their members are also engaged in ethical hacking discussions, these hacking forums are best known for focusing on cybercrime, password theft, cracking, and credential-stuffing attacks and were widely regarded as a hub for cybercriminal activity, They also hosted hacking tools, such as AI-based tools and scripts that help scan for security vulnerabilities and optimize attacks, "configs" used by credential-stuffing attack tools (e.g., OpenBullet and SilverBullet), and other illicit activities, including content related to software cracks and a "combo lists" marketplace with stolen credentials or databases. "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," Europol said. "Throughout the course of the action day, 12 domains within the platforms Cracked and Nulled were seized. Other associated services were also taken down; including a financial processor named Sellix which was used by Cracked, and a hosting service called StarkRDP, which was promoted on both of the platforms and run by the same suspects." Authorities also searched seven properties and seized over 50 electronic devices and around €300,000 (just over $312,000) in cash and cryptocurrency between January 28 and January 30. "The seized data, such as e-mail addresses, IP addresses and communication channels of the approximately 10 million registered user accounts, will be the basis for further international investigations against criminal sellers and users of the platforms," added Bundeskriminalamt, Germany's central criminal investigation agency. As BleepingComputer first reported on Wednesday, seizure banners were added to the cracked[.] io, nulled [.] to, starkrdp [.] io, mysellix [.] io, and sellix [.] io domains, confirming that they had been seized in a joint law enforcement action dubbed "Operation Talent" that included law enforcement authorities from the United States, Italy, Spain, Europe, France, Greece, Australia, and Romania. "This website, as well as the information on the customers and victims of the website, has been seized by international law enforcement partners," the banners read. The FBI seized the forums' domains and changed their name servers from their previous Cloudflare name servers to ns1.fbi.seized.gov and ns2.fbi.seized.gov. The U.S. law enforcement agency also seized domains used by: Cracked.io's staff also released a statement on Telegram confirming that police had seized the hacking forum's cracked.io domain. "Now that everyone has more clarity on the situation, Cracked.io has been seized under operation talent with specific reasons being undisclosed," they said. "We are still waiting for the official court documentation from the data centre and the domain host. We will inform you guys further on those details once we have it. A sad day indeed for our community." However, German law enforcement says SellIX and StarkRDP were shut down as they were "directly part of the platforms' economic network."
Daily Brief Summary
Europol and German law enforcement arrested two suspects and seized 17 servers under Operation Talent targeting the Cracked and Nulled hacking forums.
The operation led to the takedown of 12 domains associated with over 10 million users involved in cybercrime discussions and illicit activities such as password theft and cracking.
Authorities also shut down services linked to these forums, including a financial processor and a hosting service.
Over 50 electronic devices and roughly €300,000 in cash and cryptocurrency were seized during property searches.
Seized data, including email addresses, IP addresses, and communication channels, will drive further international investigations into the criminal users of these platforms.
The FBI changed the name servers of the seized domains to ns1.fbi.seized.gov and ns2.fbi.seized.gov as part of the domain seizures.
Europol described the forums as one-stop shops that functioned both as discussion spaces and marketplaces for illegal goods, including stolen data and hacking tools.
The seizure extends to multiple related services, impacting the broader network of illegal activities associated with these platforms.