International Coalition Takes Down Two Largest Cybercrime Forums

An international coalition of law enforcement agencies has taken down two hacking forums that had more than 10 million users, according to Europol, one of the agencies involved in the operation.

Seizure of Cracked and Nulled

On Thursday, Europol and Germany’s police, the Bundeskriminalamt (BKA), announced the seizures of Cracked and Nulled, two of the world’s largest trading platforms for cybercrime on the internet. The BKA described them as "one-stop shops" used for discussions on cybercrime and as marketplaces for illegal goods and cybercrime-as-a-service, such as stolen data, malware, or hacking tools.

Confirmation of Operation Talent

Confirmation of the operation comes a day after cybersecurity experts noticed that Cracked, Nulled, as well as two other sites called Sellix and StarkRDP, appeared to have been seized by redirecting the domains’ nameservers to servers run by the FBI. The four sites later displayed a banner announcing the law enforcement action, dubbed "Operation Talent."

Details of the Operation

According to Europol, the operation took place between Tuesday and Thursday and resulted in two arrests, seven properties searched, and the seizure of 17 servers, 50 electronic devices, and 300,000 euros ($313,000) in cash and cryptocurrency. The agencies said they acquired email addresses, IP addresses, and communication histories from the seized forums.

International Cooperation

The operation was led by German authorities, but involved law enforcement agencies from Australia, France, Greece, Italy, Romania, Spain, as well as the Department of Justice and the FBI in the United States. Australian Federal Police said they would provide an update at an appropriate time, while none of the other agencies involved responded to TechCrunch’s request for comment.

Impact of the Operation

The operation is the latest salvo in a years-long series of law enforcement operations against cybercrime forums, such as the notorious BreachForums, which was seized for the first time in 2023 and again in 2024. The seizure of Cracked and Nulled is a significant blow to the cybercrime community, and is expected to disrupt the activities of cybercriminals worldwide.

Contact Us

If you have more information about Operation Talent or other operations against cybercrime, you can contact Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai securely on Signal at +1 917 257 1382, or via Telegram and Keybase @lorenzofb, or email lorenzo@techcrunch.com. You can also contact TechCrunch via SecureDrop.