The Paris Police Prefecture’s Cybercrime Unit, otherwise known as Brigade de lutte contre la cybercriminalité (BL2C), has arrested four hackers in the country for their suspected involvement in the dark web hacking forum BreachForums.
The arrest was announced on June 25 by Laure Beccuau, a state prosecutor. Further details from French newspaper Le Parisien claim that the four hackers were known as ShinyHunters, Hollow, Noct, and Depressed and were nabbed in Paris suburban areas, Normand, and La Réunion, a French overseas territory.
The group is also suspected to have carried out highly sophisticated cyberattacks targeting victims in both France and abroad. These include a cyberattack on electronics retailer Boulanger, SFR, one of the largest internet and mobile operators in the country, France Travail, a job-seeking government agency, and the French Football Federation (FFF).
Suspects were identified with help from foreign partners, including the FBI and the US Department of Justice (DoJ), said Beccuau. At the time of writing, the case is with an investigating judge who will determine whether to indict the suspects and send the case to trial.
BreachForums quickly became one of the most notorious cybercrime forums since its 2022 launch. The forum hosted plenty of data leaks from various attacks, as well as tools to help cybercriminals carry out even more dangerous hacks. The FBI has been on its tail for a while now, and the forum has already been targeted by two US-led operations in 2023 and 2024.
In March 2023, the FBI arrested the forum’s alleged admin — a US citizen named Conor Brian Fitzpatrick, also known by their online moniker Pompompurin. The forum tried returning to usual operations, but was shut down shortly after.
Nearly a year after these attacks, another admin named ShinyHunters, who is also one of the four arrested individuals as mentioned before, announced that the forum was reopening. Their account also operated the website before it was shut down, and it’s unclear at the moment if it’s the same hacker. ShinyHunters also claimed a TicketMaster hack and offered the stolen data, which includes the full details of the 560 million affected customers, for $500,000.
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