Earlier this week, U.S. law enforcement officials arrested a New York man as part of their efforts to crack down on the infamous hacking forum BreachForums, which was run by an individual who used the alias “Pompompurin.”
According to Bloomberg Law, a federal investigator spent hours inside as well as outside a Peekskill home earlier this week following reports from News 12 Westchester that federal investigators “had spent hours inside and outside a home in Peekskill.”
Several bags of evidence were removed by investigators from the house at one point, according to a local news service based in New York.
The suspect has been identified as Conor Brian Fitzpatrick as per an affidavit filed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He also admitted to owning the BreachForums website according to the affidavit.
A special agent of the FBI, John Longmire, stated that the defendant's statements to him on March 15, 2023, showed that:
a) he was Conor Brian Fitzpatrick;
b) he referred to himself as 'pompompurin,' and
c) he owned and administered a website called 'BreachForums.' He was the owner and administrator of that website.
A conspiracy charge against Fitzpatrick has been filed on behalf of a salesperson in connection with unauthorized access to devices sold by him to individuals.
It was announced that the defendant would be released from jail a day later after his parents signed a bond for $300,000. The District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia plans to see him on March 24, 2023, at a hearing scheduled to take place there.
Along with not being able to obtain a passport or other international travel documents, Fitzpatrick is being prohibited from contacting any of his co-conspirators, or using narcotics or other controlled substances unless he has a prescription from a licensed medical practitioner, among other restrictions.
A coordinated law enforcement operation in March 2022 led to the seizure of the control of RaidForums and the emergence of BreachForums last year.
Security firm Flashpoint said at the time that popompurin stated in the threat actor's welcoming thread that BreachForums was not affiliated with RaidForums in any way.
Because this forum has been hosting stolen databases belonging to several companies, which often include personal information that can be sensitive, the forum has gained notoriety since it was founded.
A forum user named Baphomet, who was on the forum after Fitzpatrick's arrest, said they owned the website and that Fitzpatrick was the owner. In their report, they noted that no evidence was found that the breached infrastructure had been accessed or modified in any way by anyone.
In the latest development, the Cyber Police of Ukraine announced the arrest of a 25-year-old developer who had created what they believe was an "app" for gaming, which infected over 10,000 computers with a remote access Trojan.
