An international coalition of law enforcement services occupied two hacking forums that had more than 10 million users, according to Europol, one of the organizations involved in the business.
On Thursday, the Europolis and German Police Bundeskriminalamt (BKA) announced the seizures from cracked and unintentional. The BKA described them as “the two largest trading platforms in the world for cyberspace on the internet”, according to a BKA press translations of the BKA press release.
Confirmation of operation comes one day after cyber security specific observed This cracked, unintentional, as well as two other locations called Sellix and Starkrdp, appeared to have been seized by the redirect of sector names on servers managed by the FBI. The four sites later showed a banner that announced the law enforcement, called “talent operation”.
“These locations worked as one-stop shops and were used not only for discussions on cyberspace, but also as purchases for illegal goods and for cybercrime, such as stolen data, malicious software or hacking tools,” writes Europol In the press release of.
A Announcement published Wednesday Cracked’s official telegram channel stated that the site had been seized “with specific reasons not disclosed”.
EUOPOL said the operation took place between Tuesday and Thursday and led to two arrests, seven properties investigated and the seizure of 17 servers, 50 electronic devices and € 300,000 ($ 313,000) in cash and encryption.
According to BKA, the law enforcement coalition occupied twelve accounts and sectors in 10 countries. Also, 12 people were identified as involved in the operation of cybercrime platforms. Two German citizens – one who lived in Germany and someone who lived in Spain – was arrested. Two others will face prosecution by us, Spanish and Greek authorities. Organizations said they acquired email addresses, IP addresses and communication stories from the forums seized.
A video Posted by Evropolia shows the Spanish authorities, Policia Nacional (National Police) and Guardia Civil, who enter a building, arresting three people, counting cash, searching for an apartment, and sitting in front of a computer that showed the banner.
The operation, led by the German authorities, also concerned the law enforcement services by Australia, France, Greece, Italy, Romania, Spain, as well as the Ministry of Justice and the FBI in the United States.
Australian federal police said in an email that it would “inform the right time”. None of the other organizations involved responded to TechCrunch’s request for comments.
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Talent Operation is the latest Salvo in a number of law enforcement operations against cyberspace crime forums, such as infamous violations, which was first seized in 2023, and again in 2024. Later in 2024, another coordinated international Police – Called Endgame feature – Targeting several hacking services and malware manufacturers resulting in the capture of four suspects. At that time, Euopol also identified eight centrifugal centers allegedly involved in the plan.
