The Fall of BreachForums: When Hackers Get Hunted
ShinyHunters. Hollow. Noct. Depressed. IntelBroker. Behind every major breach? Them. Behind their fall? A coordinated strike in Europe.
The Forum That Wouldn’t Die
BreachForums (the V2 version) rose from the ashes of RaidForums and the original BreachForums, both dismantled in high-profile takedowns. But like malware with persistence mode, it came back.
This wasn’t just another forum. It was a full-blown marketplace, coordination hub, and PR machine for cybercriminals. And its cast of characters? Top-tier:
ShinyHunters – Known for high-volume credential leaks. Think Ticketmaster, AT&T, and dozens more.
IntelBroker – Credited (or blamed) for leaks targeting U.S. agencies, including the DC Health Link (which manages data for members of Congress).
Hollow, Noct, Depressed – Moderators, orchestrators, facilitators. The infrastructure layer.
Together, they didn’t just post data—they ran a platform that industrialized cybercrime.
The French Connection
These weren’t distant arrests from a faceless country. French authorities went hard: coordinated raids in Paris, Normandy, and even Réunion Island. Why? Because the forum had been directly tied to breaches of French organizations like SFR and France Travail (ex-Pôle Emploi). That’s millions of French citizens’ data burned—an attack on national infrastructure.
And yes, they were reportedly operating under the BreachForums banner until at least April.
Why It Matters (More Than You Think)
This isn’t just about shutting down another .onion domain. It’s about cutting the head off the hydra.
Leadership matters. These weren’t low-level posters. This was the command structure.
They weren’t anonymous. Despite all the opsec memes, these actors had fingerprints. Digital and physical.
BreachForums was infrastructure. Without it, affiliate leaks, ransomware proof-packs, and data resale pipelines stall.
Also: it proves that coordinated law enforcement still works when it hits the right targets.
But Don’t Celebrate Too Soon
Forums like this don’t die. They mutate.
ShinyHunters goes down? Someone else will copy the brand. IntelBroker disappears? Another persona will emerge with the same tone and tools.
The idea of BreachForums—a scalable, moderated data crime platform—is harder to kill than the admins who built it.
What’s next:
A diaspora of members moving to alt forums and Telegram
Clones, rebrands, and phoenix domains
Law enforcement lurking in places we haven’t seen yet
The CodeAIntel Take
This takedown is a tactical win. But we’re in a long war.
Criminal forums today aren’t just message boards. They’re logistics chains. They run on crypto, they enforce refunds, they manage disputes, and they move at the speed of startup culture.