Europol and FBI Dismantle Cracked and Nulled Cybercrime Forums
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Europol and the FBI, led by German authorities, dismantled Cracked .io, and Nulled .to, two major cybercrime forums with over 10 million users. These platforms were hubs for selling stolen data, malware, and hacking tools, operating as full-fledged marketplaces for cybercrime-as-a-service. The operation, named Operation Talent, involved raids across multiple countries between January 28 and 30, 2025, resulting in:
https://cyberinsider.com/europol-and-fbi-dismantle-cracked-and-nulled-cybercrime-forums/
-Two arrests and seven property searches.
-Seizure of 17 servers, 50+ electronic devices, and €300,000 in cash and cryptocurrency.
-Takedown of 12 domains and associated services, including Sellix (an illicit payment processor) and StarkRDP (a hosting provider for cybercriminals).The forums facilitated credential stuffing attacks, distributed AI-powered phishing tools, and provided software cracks and key generators. Europol estimates criminals on these platforms generated at least €1 million in illicit profits. The FBI seized the domains, replacing them with law enforcement seizure notices.
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I know it is a trope/stereotype, but I cannot help but think how great these chaps would have been at putting their talents to legal enterprises. They were obviously talented and/or motivated. Anyone who would install botnet software on a grandmother's computer deserves no quarter.
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I don't think it is. They are usually all very talented and you are very right.
It is not the same topic but one thought led to another, I have been thinking of Yandex as a company. The engineers in there are unbelievably talented. They sure would like to be integral part of the European tech community but alas, they had to be under an oppressive leadership which limits their freedom and prevent them to express themselves with their technical talent in the international arena.
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Has anyone seen where users are moving next? I wonder if the high frequency of forum-takedowns in the past ~two years will lead to a consolidation of activities in a select few bullet-proof forums that end up being too hard to take down (such as Exploit or XSS maybe).
