- Europol dismantles LeakBase underground data forum
- Platform hosted trade in stolen data with global reach
- Authorities seized the domain and targeted active users
Several people have reportedly been arrested in a wide-ranging police operation that sought to take down a popular underground forum for data leaks.
Europol announced a major international operation which took down LeakBase, a forum which, as the agency explains, “established itself as a central hub in the cybercrime ecosystem”.
It was created in 2021 and within four years had more than 142,000 registered users, published about 32,000 posts and sent more than 215,000 private messages.
Interventions, house searches and arrests
On this forum, which operated on the open web and in English, users could buy, sell and exchange compromised data, stolen from various companies and individuals around the world. Russia was apparently off limits and the forum did not allow the sale or publication of data related to the country.
On March 3, 2026, law enforcement agencies across multiple countries and jurisdictions conducted approximately 100 operations, conducting house searches, “knock-and-talk” interventions, and arrests.
Europol did not say how many people were arrested, under what charges or where they were. It said police were taking “action” against 37 of the forum’s most active users.
A day later, it seized the forum’s domain and defaced it. The forum’s database was also confiscated by authorities, who are now working to de-anonymize users and have apparently already “contacted several suspects directly”.
“This operation shows that no corner of the internet is beyond the reach of international law enforcement. What began as a shadowy forum for stolen data has now been dismantled and those who thought they could hide behind anonymity are being identified and held accountable,” said Edvardas Šileris, head of Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre.
“This is a clear message to cybercriminals everywhere: If you trade with other people’s stolen information, law enforcement will find you and bring you to justice.”
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