Redazione RHC : 25 June 2025 19:29
Shocking news in France: one of the largest global cybercrime networks dismantled. The BreachForum hackers were… French. French authorities have busted a large cybercrime operation, arresting five young French hackers responsible for running BreachForum, one of the world’s most active underground digital marketplaces for buying and selling stolen data. The operation was conducted with synchronized raids across France.
At first, it was believed that Russian groups or groups operating in Russian-speaking territories were behind BreachForum. But investigations by the Brigade de la Crime Intérieur (BL2C) of the Paris police headquarters have turned the tables: four of the main managers of the forum were young Frenchmen in their early twenties, who were arrested on Monday. A fifth member, known by the alias “IntelBroker“, was already captured in February 2025 during a separate operation.
With the capture of the main French operators, BreachForum’s activities will suffer a significant setback and it would seem that the legacy of the last version taken over by IntelBroker could cease altogether, leaving a free hand for new insiders, such as DarkForums.
The platform had become a central hub in the global traffic of stolen data, facilitating the sale of millions of sensitive information and personal credentials. This blow to cybercrime infrastructure highlights how international cooperation is becoming increasingly crucial in combating transnational digital threats.
After the FBI stopped Conor Brian Fitzpatrick, aka “Pompompurin,” the forum’s original founder, a group of young French hackers took over, keeping the platform running under new management. Operating in the shadows under fictitious identities, they managed to continue undisturbed for nearly a year. The arrest of “IntelBroker” however triggered a wave of panic that led to the suspension of the site in April 2024.
French law enforcement coordinated a series of simultaneous raids in several areas, including Hauts-de-Seine, Normandy and the overseas territory of Réunion. Those arrested operated under aliases such as “ShinyHunters”, “Hollow”, “Noct”, “Depressed” and “IntelBroker”. They are accused of having breached the computer systems of large French organizations, including the electronics giant Boulanger, the operator SFR, France Travail and the French Football Federation.
BreachForum, heir to the infamous RaidForums, has been described as a meeting point between attackers and data buyers by ESET expert Benoît Grunenwald. The fact that the new directors of the platform were French surprised many, but for Grunenwald it is a sign of the presence of advanced cyber skills also within the country. These individuals had reached such a level of technical sophistication as to earn trust and credibility within the underground criminal circuits.
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