 | |
Type of site | Internet forum |
|---|---|
| Available in | English |
| Predecessor(s) | RaidForums |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Founder(s) | Conor Brian Fitzpatrick, also known by hisscreen name "pompompurin" |
| URL |
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| Advertising | Yes |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Users | 336,800 at time of last shutdown[citation needed] |
| Launched | March 4, 2022; 3 years ago (2022-03-04) |
| Current status | Offline |
BreachForums, sometimes referred to asBreached, is an English-languageblack hat–hackingcrime forum. The website acted as an alternative and successor toRaidForums following its shutdown and seizure in 2022.[1] Like its predecessor, BreachForums allows for the discussion of various hacking topics and distributeddata breaches,pornography, hacking tools, and various other services.
On March 21, 2023, BreachForums was shut down following the arrest of the forum's owner, Conor Brian Fitzpatrick.[2] The forum was later reopened under the ownership of the hacking groupShinyHunters and previous BreachForums administrator "Baphomet". Fitzpatrick was later sentenced to 20 years supervised release. The site was again shut down and the domain seized on May 15, 2024, though the domain was back under the owner's control just hours later.
BreachForums, along with other dark web forums, usesDDoS-Guard for its web hosting services.[3] DDoS Guard has been criticized for hosting sites associated with illicit activities, and for its lack of action with abuse reports.[4]
The forum was owned by and founded in March 2022 by then-19-year-old Conor Brian Fitzpatrick, known on the forum under hisscreen name "pompompurin".[5] Fitzpatrick's identity had been based on the Japanese characterPompompurin bySanrio. Fitzpatrick had, a year earlier, claimed responsibility for the2021 FBI email hack.[6] Following his arrest ownership of the forum transferred to hackerShiny Hunters, who announced their retirement in 2024. In 2024,IntelBroker became the new owner of the forum, which had stagnated under its previous administration due to a lack of leadership involvement.[7] In 2025, Intelbroker announced he was stepping down as the forum's admin, transferring ownership to "Anastasia".
On December 10, 2022, a member of the forum identified by the screen name "USDoD" posted a thread offering the sale of adatabase containing the information of over 80,000 members of theFBI non-profit organization and information portalInfraGard. The individual claimed to have obtained access to the portal through asocial engineering attack in which they pretended to be the CEO of an unknown U.S. financial corporation.[8]
On March 6, 2024, a user known asIntelBroker posted that he was selling data originating from the breach ofDC Health Link, a Washington D.C.health insurance marketplace. Soon after on March 9, 2023, another member identifying under the screen name "Denfur" posted a thread containing 200 entries, claiming that more information was to come. The D.C. Health Benefit Exchange Authority later stated that more than 56,000 customers had been impacted by the breach, but original posts relating to the data claim to have the information of over 170,000 customers.[9][10]
On July 23, 2024, the entire database of the original BreachForums was leaked online by a threat actor. The site's founder, Fitzpatrick, allegedly attempted to sell the data after being indicted and while released on bail.[11]
On March 15, 2023, in Peekskill, New York,[12] Fitzpatrick was arrested by law enforcement and charged with conspiracy to commit access device fraud in federal court.[5][13] Following Fitzpatrick's arrest, another forum administrator under the screen name "Baphomet" took ownership of the website and its infrastructure. However, following Baphomet's suspicion of the forum being compromised, on March 21, 2023, it was shut down.[14] Baphomet later reopened the forum with black-hat hacking group ShinyHunters.[15]
Approximately a month after his arrest, Fitzpatrick attempted to commitsuicide in his home while released onbail.[16] He later pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit access device fraud, access device fraud, and possession of child pornography.[17][18] In January 2024, Fitzpatrick was detained after violating his bail conditions which forbade the use of a VPN.[19] Despite federal prosecutors requesting that Fitzpatrick serve over 15 years in prison, he was sentenced to time-served followed by 20 years of supervised release.[20] The United States has since filed an appeal of his sentence.[citation needed]
On June 23, 2023, three months after shutting down, theclearnet domains for BreachForums were seized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, and the Department of Justice in accordance with aseizure warrant issued by theU.S. District Court for Eastern Virginia.
On May 15, 2024, the FBI seized the most recent BreachForums clearnet site along with its onion site and the associatedTelegram. The seizure followed a significant data leak involving Europol's portal. The forum briefly displayed an FBI seizure notice, highlighting cooperation with international partners. The FBI is examining the forum's backend data, which may lead to identifying members and advancing investigations. The forum administrator, Baphomet, was arrested according to ShinyHunters.[21] The site came back online on May 29, 2024.[22]
On 28 April 2025 BreachForums administrators published a PGP-signed statement on the forum’s landing page stating that they had taken the site offline earlier in the month after “trusted contacts” confirmed that law-enforcement agencies had exploited an undisclosed zero-day vulnerability in the MyBB forum software to gain covert access.[23][24][25] The administrators said that an incident-response review found no evidence of data compromise but that the forum would remain offline while its back-end is rewritten. They also warned that recently launched “BreachForums” clones were “likely honeypots” and reiterated that no staff members had been arrested.[23][24]
