According to rumors, the notorious hacker group ShinyHunters is set to revive the now-defunct cybercrime market, BreachedForums, later this month. The news was initially reported by vx-underground on Twitter, though the source of the information was not disclosed.
ShinyHunters gained infamy for their involvement in high-profile data breaches, including T-Mobile and AT&T, which resulted in significant financial losses for the victims.
The group is recognized for its ruthlessness and efficiency in executing cyberattacks, and their takeover of BreachedForums raises concerns about potential cybersecurity threats in the near future.
ShinyHunters, identified by security researchers in 2020, has been associated with using a “shiny” Pokemon avatar for their social media profiles. Their criminal activities extended to attempting to sell stolen data from over 70 million AT&T users and 40 million T-Mobile users in the spring of 2022.
In August, one of the top members of ShinyHunters, 21-year-old Sébastien Raoult, along with two other French nationals, was arrested and extradited to the US, facing multiple charges with a potential maximum sentence of 116 years.
The revival of BreachedForums has been a topic of discussion since the site’s owner, known as Pompompurin, was arrested by the FBI in March. Although the forum initially tried to continue operations, the second-in-command decided to shut it down, fearing FBI infiltration.
Since then, several substitutes for BreachedForums have emerged, but former users and administrators remained skeptical, assuming these sites were traps set up by law enforcement.
The recent leak of sensitive data from RaidForums, a criminal marketplace that BreachedForums aimed to replace, added an ironic twist to the situation, further highlighting the evolving landscape of cybercrime.
