Owner Of The Dark Web BreachForums Arrested By The FBI, Bjorka Where To Run?

Dark Web Screenshot (photo: Citra/voi)

JAKARTA - The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) managed to arrest the owner of the dark web site BreachForums, Conor Brian Fitzpatrick, also known as Pompompurin.

He was arrested at his home in Pepekskill, New York, United States (US) on Wednesday, March 15 last week. Fitzpatrick was charged in Virginia federal court on one charge of conspiracy to commit fraud in access devices.

The man aged between 20 or 21 claimed to have BreachForums at the time of his arrest and identified himself as Pompumpkin.

Under the online name Pompompurin, Fitzpatrick is also thought to have been one of the most prominent names on cyberleaks in recent years.

The hacker was once involved in a number of offenses, many of which targeted the FBI. In 2021, Fitzpatrick is responsible for the hack that sends thousands of fake cybersecurity alerts from the FBI email address.

Not only that, he is also related to Infragard violations, the FBI's information sharing program aimed at raising awareness about physical and digital threats to government organizations and independent companies.

Then, Fitzpatrick also connected with Robinhood 2021 violations that revealed the information of its millions of users, as well as leakage of Twitter users' handles and email addresses that occurred in November 2022.

Create BreachForums Because RaidForums Confiscated

Furthermore, Fitzpatrick created BreachForums after the FBI seized RaidForums in 2022, similar hacking sites also sold leaked information. The FBI described RaidForums as a popular market for cybercriminals to buy and sell hacked data.

BreachForums is a new site that Fitzpatrick allegedly created to fill the void because RaidForums is closed, as quoted by DailyNews, Monday, March 20.

The FBI stated that BreachFormus is usually a platform for hackers to leak stolen data, and is believed to be the largest data leak forum of its kind.

Fitzpatrick was also accused, among others, of illegally hosting illegally databases obtained illegally from more than 1,000 companies.

Last week, BreachForums was also used in an effort to sell personal information belonging to US politicians. The data is thought to have been stolen in the DC Health Link hack, a provider of health services for members of the US House of Representatives and their families.

On the same site, the Indonesian government has been a victim of hacking several times and then the data obtained was sold at the forum. Recently, phenomenal hacker Bjorka sold data allegedly belonging to members of BPJS Ketenagakerjaan.

The latest post on BreachForums shows the site will still be active and run under new holdings, at least for now, reported by The Verge.

Fitzpatrick was released from prison in 300,000 US dollars on Thursday last week. However, he will attend federal court in Virginia on March 24.