One of the largest hacker forums in the world has been seized by the US DoJ

LeakBase, a forum for global hackers with over a hundred thousand members, has been seized by the United States Department of Justice (DoJ).

"The forum had an enormous and continuously updated archive of hacked databases including many from high profile attacks, including hundreds of millions of account credentials", the DoJ says.

It claims the site had over 142,000 members and over 215,000 messages. It reports that LeakBase was used to sell information from stolen databases (explaining the name), and that information could include passwords, usernames, and even credit card numbers.

On March 3 and 4, law enforcement agencies from 14 countries made synchronised actions against the site, and the data from it has been seized. From here, law enforcement has conducted arrests, interviews, and used search warrants in the United States, Australia, Belgium, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

Notably, LeakBase operated on the open web, which is to say one could get access for free without special software or tools. Now, when one tries to access LeakBase, they are met with a message stating it has been seized and:

"All forum content, including users' accounts, posts, credit details, private messages and IP logs have been secured and preserved for evidentiary purposes. Attempts to access, alter, or interfere with this site may result in additional criminal offenses."

We don't have a concrete figure of how many arrests have been made off the back of this seizure, or how many identities can be gleaned from the information on the site, but the DoJ urges those who have used the site to contact the FBI.

The US Department of Justice points out its previous attempts to crack down on hacker forums, like RaidForums in 2022, the arrest of the founder of BreachForums in 2023, and the sentencing of the founder of BreachForums in 2025. One would assume it will be some time until the LeakBase seizure will be all said and done for.

The Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS) has reported this seizure and claims it has "secured the conviction of over 180 cybercriminals and IP criminals, and court orders for the return of over $350 million in victim funds" since 2020.

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