- German police and international partners complete operating talent
- The operation saw two forums seized, two people arrested and lots of money confiscated
- Cracked and zeroed were allegedly go-to places to ease cybercrime
An international law enforcement operation, led by German authorities and involved Europol, the FBI and many other European national police forces, has resulted in the dismantling of two major hacking forums, several arrests and seizure of cash and cryptocurrency.
A Europol press message outlined how “Operation Talent” took place between 28 and 30 January, resulting in two arrests, seven properties searched, 17 servers and more than 50 electronic units seized and approx. 300,000 euros and cryptocurrency confiscated.
However, the biggest news is the removal of two major hacking forums: cracked and zero, as Europol says, between them had more than 10 million users.
Operation Talent
“Both of these underground financial forums offered a rapid entrance point in the cybercrime scene,” EUROPOL explained in the press release. “These sites served as one-stop stores and were not only used for discussions about cybercrime, but also as marketplaces for illegal goods and cybercrime-as-service, such as stolen data, malware or hacking tools. Investigators estimate that suspects earned EUR 1 million in criminal profits. “
In the removal process, law enforcement agents seized 12 domains and took down financial processor Sellix and a hosting provider called StartTRDP.
In addition to Europol and the FBI, the operation included the Australian Federal Police, France’s anti -cybercrime office, Germany’s federal criminal police office (which led the entire operation), the prosecutor’s office Frankfurt am Main – Cyber Crime Center, Greece Hellenian Police, Italian State State, Romania’s General Inspector for Romanian police, Spain’s national police and the US Department of Justice.
This is not the first hacking forum that law enforcement took down. The violation forum, arguably the largest place of its kind, was shut down in April 2023 following the arrest of his administrator, Conor Brian Fitzpatrick. Instead, violation was formed and today is the place of all things cybercrime.
