After BreachForums arrest, new site administrator says the platform will live on

A new administrator has stepped up to take over BreachForums — a popular cybercriminal platform whose alleged owner was arrested last week by the FBI.

A hacker going by the account name “Baphomet” said he was working through an emergency plan for the forum after the arrest of 21-year-old Conor Brian Fitzpatrick at his home in Peekskill, New York last Wednesday.

In court documents, Fitzpatrick is alleged to be the hacker known as pompompurin – the leading administrator of BreachForums.

Fitzpatrick is now facing one count of conspiracy to solicit individuals with the purpose of selling unauthorized access devices – a charge often leveled against cybercriminals. The FBI said Fitzpatrick admitted to being pompompurin during his arrest and claimed he was the owner and administrator of BreachForums.

Footage of BreachedForum administrator Pompompurin's home being raided by the FBI. pic.twitter.com/vR6Kq4tcrS

— vx-underground (@vxunderground) March 17, 2023

The platform quickly grew in popularity following an April 2022 takedown of RaidForums, another popular digital haven for cybercriminals that pompompurin was involved in.

BreachForums has become the go-to site for cybercriminals to purchase stolen data and market troves of information leaked during hacks and attacks. The forum was most recently in the news after hackers posted data stolen from Washington, D.C.’s healthcare exchange platform on the site, including the sensitive information of Congress members and staff.

The website is currently inaccessible but it may not be dark for long. Baphomet, the current administrator, said in a note on Sunday that the platform would be going offline as they migrate it to a new infrastructure.

“Although I had already suspected it to be the case, its now been confirmed that Pom has been arrested. I think it's safe to assume he won't be coming back, so I'll be taking ownership of the forum,” Baphomet said.

“I have most, if not all the access necessary to protect BF infrastructure and users.”

Baphomet said he removed pompompurin’s access to the platform's infrastructure, restricted his account and has been “constantly monitoring” logs to see if any changes have been made to BreachedForums. Pompompurin’s profile shows he last used the site on Wednesday just before 4 p.m.

Fitzpatrick posted bail of $300,000 in New York on Thursday and is scheduled to appear in federal court in Virginia on March 24.

Footage of his arrest showed the FBI removing bags of evidence, laptops and more from the home where Fitzpatrick lived. The Justice Department and FBI did not respond to requests for comment about the arrest.

Pompompurin previously touted his hacking prowess in an interview with cybersecurity journalist Brian Krebs, taking credit for a headline-grabbing attack on the FBI’s email system in November 2021.