U.S. legislation enforcement arrested on Wednesday a New York man believed to be Pompompurin, the proprietor of the BreachForums hacking discussion board.
According to court docket paperwork, he was charged with one depend of conspiracy to solicit people to promote unauthorized entry gadgets.
During the arrest, the defendant allegedly admitted that his actual title 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 stated to me in substance and in part that: a) his name was Conor Brian FitzPatrick; b) he used the alias “pompourin,” and c) he was the owner and administrator of “BreachForums,” the data breach website referenced in 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 court docket, 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 court docket functions. He can also be restricted from contacting witnesses, codefendants, or coconspirators.
While the suspected proprietor of BreachForums is away, a discussion board admin stated that the location would proceed to function in its present capability.
The admin added that they have full entry to the location’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 way 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 develop into the biggest information leak discussion board of its form, generally utilized by hackers and ransomware gangs to leak stolen information.
Last week, BreachForums was utilized by a risk actor to try 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 employees, and their households.
While BreachForums grew to become a pressure in cybercrime by itself, Pompompurin has additionally been concerned in varied high-profile firm breaches.
These breaches embrace sending pretend 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 substantiate the e-mail addresses of 5.4 million Twitter customers.
