U.S. regulation enforcement arrested on Wednesday a New York man believed to be Pompompurin, the proprietor of the BreachForums hacking discussion board.
According to courtroom paperwork, he was charged with one rely of conspiracy to solicit people to promote unauthorized entry gadgets.
During the arrest, the defendant allegedly admitted that his actual identify was Connor Brian Fitzpatrick and that he was Pompourin, the proprietor of the Breach Forums cybercrime discussion board.
“When I arrested the defendant on March 15, 2023, he said to me in substance and partially that: a) his identify was Conor Brian FitzPatrick; b) he used the alias “pompourin,” and c) he was the proprietor and administrator of “BreachForums,” the information breach web site referenced within the Complaint,” FBI Special Agent John Longmire says.
Fitzpatrick was launched on Thursday on a $300,000 bond and can seem within the District Court of the Eastern District of Virginia on March 24, as first reported by Bloomberg.
Until his look in courtroom, the defendant has surrendered his paperwork and can solely be allowed to journey throughout the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York and the Eastern District of Virginia for courtroom functions. He can be restricted from contacting witnesses, codefendants, or coconspirators.
While the suspected proprietor of BreachForums is away, a discussion board admin stated that the positioning would proceed to function in its present capability.
The admin added that they have full entry to the positioning’s infrastructure and can proceed to function the discussion board.
Who is Pompompurin?
Pompompurin has been a well known participant in a cybercriminal underground dedicated to breaching corporations and promoting or leaking stolen information by means of boards and social media. He was additionally a high-profile member of the RaidForums cybercrime discussion board.
After the FBI seized RaidForums in 2022, Pompourin created a brand new discussion board named ‘BreachForums’ to fill the void.
It has since turn into the most important information leak discussion board of its variety, generally utilized by hackers and ransomware gangs to leak stolen information.
Last week, BreachForums was utilized by a menace actor to aim to promote the non-public information of U.S. politicians that was stolen in a breach on D.C. Health Link, a healthcare supplier for U.S. House members, their workers, and their households.
While BreachForums turned a power in cybercrime by itself, Pompompurin has additionally been concerned in numerous high-profile firm breaches.
These breaches embrace sending faux cyberattack emails utilizing a flaw within the FBI’s Law Enforcement Enterprise Portal (LEEP), stealing buyer information from Robinhood, and allegedly utilizing a bug to verify the e-mail addresses of 5.4 million Twitter customers.