BreachForums Closed Forever, But Not as Its Creators Planned
Four more notorious hackers have fallen into the hands of law enforcement.
French police conducted a large-scale operation against the organizers of the infamous cybercriminal forum BreachForums, which had become one of the main platforms for trading stolen data in recent years. According to the publication Le Parisien, officers from the cybercrime unit (BL2C) arrested several individuals involved in the operation of the site.
According to French journalists, the arrests took place in the suburbs of Paris, Normandy, and on the island of Réunion. Among those arrested were users known by the pseudonyms "ShinyHunters," "Hollow," "Noct," and "Depressed." The forum's organizer, operating under the nickname "IntelBroker," was arrested by French law enforcement back in February of this year, a fact that became public only recently.
This new wave of arrests has effectively put an end to the revived BreachForums, which emerged after the original site was shut down in 2023. At that time, the platform's founder, Connor Brian Fitzpatrick (alias Pompompurin), was arrested in the United States. Almost immediately after that, other criminals, including ShinyHunters, Baphomet, and IntelBroker, took over and launched the second version of the forum.
ShinyHunters is one of the most well-known figures in the cybercriminal community. The name is associated with numerous data breaches of major international companies, including Salesforce, PowerSchool, and SnowFlake. Recent attacks affected giants like Santander, Ticketmaster, AT&T, Advance Auto Parts, Neiman Marcus, and Cylance. According to experts, the pseudonym ShinyHunters represents not just one person but a whole group acting collectively.
The second wave of BreachForums' activity was halted in April 2025 when the site was reportedly hacked using a vulnerability in the popular MyBB engine. Since then, the forum has not resumed its operations.
The investigation connects the arrested individuals with several high-profile attacks on French companies and government structures. Among them are the electronics retail chain Boulanger, telecommunications operator SFR, the government agency France Travail (formerly Pôle Emploi), and the French Football Federation. The breach of France Travail was particularly large-scale, with the data of nearly 43 million citizens potentially exposed.
While French authorities have not officially commented on the details of the arrests, the National Agency for the Security of Information Systems (ANSSI) has also refrained from making any statements.
