The database for the now defunct hacker forum and data breach marketplace called WeLeakData.com is being sold on the dark web, researchers from cyber intelligence firm Cyble have found.
WeLeakData.com was one of the largest cracking communities that specialized in the trade of leaked databases. In April the criminal forum mysteriously went offline, and rumors emerged it was seized by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), and that the forum database had been stolen or sold to another member.
The Cyble researchers said the group behind the forum was quite well managed.
“Their admin and moderators have strong ties to several hacking groups and data brokers, which spiked their group’s reputation and the number of members. Several members of other hacking forums expressed their desires to hack WeLeakData due to various reasons,” the researchers said.
After brief period of inactivity the site allegedly was sold to a new member of the forum, and came back online. Around the same time, the researchers noticed a new fork cracking site called Leaksmarket.com.com, which contained the same posts, private messages, and users as the original WeLeakData site suggesting that the original WeLeakData database has been compromised.
The Cyble researchers managed to acquire the WeLeakData database and found it contained various information such as members’ login names, email addressees, hashed passwords, IP addresses that they registered and posted under, and private messages.
“There are unconfirmed reports in the darkweb market that WeLeakData.com owner has been arrested as part of the Europol’s recent crackdowns. Cyble researchers have verified the alias of WeLeakData owner is unresponsive and unreachable, however, the arrest claim is unverified at the time of writing this. Several cybercrime operators have mentioned that their operations have been disrupted due to the crackdown. However, Cyble is also observing new players entering as well,” the researchers wrote.