Source: www.infosecurity-magazine.com – Author:
Four hackers in their 20s have been arrested in France for their suspected involvement in the notorious dark web forum BreachForums.
In an official statement on June 25, Laure Beccuau, a State Prosecutor, revealed that the four hackers were arrested on June 23 by the Paris Police Prefecture’s Cybercrime Unit, or Brigade de lutte contre la cybercriminalité (BL2C).
Further reporting by French newspaper Le Parisien stated that the four hackers, known as ShinyHunters, Hollow, Noct and Depressed, were arrested in Paris suburban areas, Normandy and La Reunion, a French overseas territory.
The group is sometimes referred to as ShinyHunters.
Aside from administering BreachForums, the quartet is suspected of having carried out cyber-attacks of a very high degree of technical complexity, to the detriment of many victims in France and abroad.
These allegedly include hacks targeting electronics retailer Boulanger, an electronics retailer, SFR, one of the three largest internet and mobile operators in the country, as well as France Travail, the job-seeking government agency and the French Football Federation (FFF).
“The identification of the suspects was made possible thanks to police and judicial cooperation with our foreign partners, particularly the US,” said Beccuau.
“I would like to extend special thanks to the FBI and the US Department of Justice (DOJ), whose representatives I personally met with, for the high quality of the exchanges and the detailed information they shared with us, demonstrating a high degree of mutual trust.”
An investigating judge is now investigating the case further in order to determine whether to indict the suspects and send the case to trial.
BreachForums’ Ups and Downs
BreachForums was a major, English-language global cybercrime marketplace available on the clear web that had been active since 2022.
It was targeted by two US judicial operations in 2023 and 2024.
The FBI’s arrest of Conor Brian Fitzpatrick, also known as ‘Pompompurin’, in March 2023 dealt a significant blow to the forum. This US citizen was suspected of being the main administrator of the platform, which temporarily ceased its activities, but came back online, supposedly with a new administrative team.
In February 2025, Kai West, a 25-year-old British national using the pseudonym IntelBroker, was arrested in France. He was suspected of having served as a temporary administrator of the forum and of having himself carried out significant cyber-attacks.
On June 25, the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York revealed that West was charged with operating an online platform facilitating illicit transactions as part of an organized gang and with attacks on automated data processing systems as part of an organized gang, causing an estimated $25m in damages. He was placed in pre-trial detention.
In April 2025, BreachForums was taken down, with rumors suggesting that the FBI had seized the hackers’ infrastructure, only to reappear in early June, utilizing a new domain.
The fate of BreachForums hangs in the balance, and whether the recent arrests of its alleged administrators prove to be a fatal blow or just another bump in the road remains to be seen.
Original Post URL: https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/french-authorities-arrest-four/
Category & Tags: –
Views: 0
