RaidForums hacking site taken down

CNN reports that the US, as well as law enforcement agencies in the UK, Sweden, and other allies, have successfully taken down RaidForums, a hacking forum promoting stolen data from US organizations and consumers that has more than 530,000 registered members. The US Department of Justice also announced that alleged RaidForums founder Diogo Santos Coelho had been arrested in the UK at the end of January. Moreover, RaidForums' computer infrastructure has already been accessed by US authorities months prior to the announcement of the seizure, an official close to the matter said. "The takedown of this online market for the resale of hacked or stolen data disrupts one of the major ways cybercriminals profit from the large-scale theft of sensitive personal and financial information," said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department's Criminal Division. While the shutdown of RaidForums may challenge some cybercriminals, the presence of other hacking forums in the dark web will only ensure the continued growth of the stolen data market, according to experts. "Forums on the clear web that struggled to compete with RaidForums could see an increase in the number of active members, but more sophisticated cybercriminals are likely to integrate themselves in underground forums on the dark web," said Digital Shadows Cyber Threat Intelligence Analyst Ivan Righi.