Hack Forums

Hack Forums
Type of site
 Forum
Owner Jesse LaBrocca
Website https://hackforums.net
Alexa rank Increase 15,072 U.S. (Global, August 2018)
Commercial Yes
Registration Required to access features
Users
  • 613,250 registered users
  • (August 2017)
Launched 27 September 2005 (2005-09-27)
Current status Active

Hack Forums (often shortened to 'HF') is an Internet forum and a popular destination for hackers and script kiddies.[1][2] Its three million members make it one of the largest online place for chatter about hacking.[2] It specializes in topics covering security, technology, general computing and social media.[3]

Botnets, arrests, and hacking tools

According to a press release[4] from the U.S. Department of Justice, Zachary Shames developed a keylogger in 2013 that allowed users to steal sensitive information, including passwords and banking Credentials, from a victim's computer. Shames developed the keylogger known as Limitless Logger Pro, which was sold for $35 on Hack Forums.[5][6]

On 12 August 2013, hackers used SSH brute-force to mass target Linux systems with weak passwords. The tools used by hackers were then later posted on hacking community, called, "Hack Forums".[7]

On 15 May 2014, the FBI targeted customers of a popular Remote Administration Tool (RAT) called 'Blackshades'.[8] Blackshades RAT was a malware created and sold on Hack Forums.[3]

On 14 January 2016, the developer of MegalodonHTTP DDoS Botnet was arrested. MegalodonHTTP included a number of features as "Binary downloading and executing", "Distributed Denial of service (DDoS) attack methods", "Remote Shell", "Antivirus Disabling", "Crypto miner for Bitcoin, Litecoin, Omnicoin and Dogecoin". The malware was sold on Hack Forums.[9]

On 22 September 2016, majority of websites were forced offline after being hit with “Mirai,” a malware that targeted unsecured Internet of Things (IoT) devices.[10] The source code for Mirai was published on Hack Forums as open-source.[11] According to the documents unsealed by the federal court on Tuesday,[12] Paras Jha (21-year-old from New Jersey), Josiah White (20-year-old Washington) and Dalton Norman (21-year-old from Louisiana) were indicted by an Alaska court last week on multiple charges for their role in massive cyber attacks conducted using Mirai botnet.[13] In response, on 26 October 2016, Omniscient, the administrator of Hack Forums, removed the DDoS-for-Hire section from the forum permanently.[14][15][16]

On 21 October 2016, popular websites, including Twitter, Amazon, Netflix, were taken down by a distributed denial-of-service attack. Researchers claimed that the attack was stemmed from contributors on Hack Forums.[17]

On Monday, 26 February 2018, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported[18] that Ukrainian authorities had once again collared Kapkanov, who was allegedly living under a fake passport in Poltava, a city in central Ukraine. He marketed the Remote Administration Tool (NanoCore RAT) and another software licensing program called Net Seal exclusively on Hack Forums.[19] Earlier, in December 2016, the FBI had arrested Taylor Huddleston, the programmer who created NanoCore and announced it first on Hack Forums.[20]

On 4 September 2018, several users on Hackforums reported to have received an email from Google informing them that the FBI demanded the release of user data which linked to the case of LuminosityLink.[21]

Privacy and security

In June 2011, the hacktivist group "LulzSec" leaked large data breach, titled "50 days of lulz" which included the website hackforums.net. The leaked data included credentials and personal information of nearly 200,000 registered users.[22]

On 27 August 2014, Hack Forums was hacked with a defacement message by an Egyptian hacker with the online handle Eg-R1z.[23][24]

On 26 July 2016, Hack Forums Administrator ('Omniscient') warned its users of a security breach.[25] In an e-mail he suggested users to change their passwords and enable 2FA.[26]

References

  1. ↑ "'Bustling' web attack market shut down". BBC News. 3 November 2016. Retrieved 3 June 2018.
  2. 1 2 "Hanging out with the script kiddies". BBC News. 17 February 2016. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
  3. 1 2 Patrick Howell O'Neill (31 October 2016). "Inside HackForums' rebellious cybercrime empire". Cyberscoop. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
  4. ↑ "College Student Pleads Guilty To Developing Malicious Software". justice.gov. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
  5. ↑ Khandelwal, Swati. "Student Faces 10 Years In Prison For Creating And Selling Limitless Keylogger". The Hacker News. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
  6. ↑ "Student Hacker Faces 10 Years in Prison For Spyware That Hit 16,000 Computers". Motherboard. 13 January 2017. Retrieved 3 June 2018.
  7. ↑ "PSA: Improperly Secured Linux Servers Targeted with Chaos Backdoor". BleepingComputer. Retrieved 2018-07-21.
  8. ↑ Finkle, Jim. "FBI plans cyber crime crackdown, arrests coming in weeks". U.S. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
  9. ↑ Khandelwal, Swati. "Creator of MegalodonHTTP DDoS Botnet Arrested". The Hacker News. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
  10. ↑ "Who is Anna-Senpai, the Mirai Worm Author? — Krebs on Security". krebsonsecurity.com. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
  11. ↑ "How an army of vulnerable gadgets took down the web today". The Verge. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
  12. ↑ "Justice Department Announces Charges and Guilty Pleas in Three Computer Crime Cases Involving Significant DDoS Attacks". justice.gov. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
  13. ↑ Kumar, Mohit. "Three Hackers Plead Guilty to Creating IoT-based Mirai DDoS Botnet". The Hacker News. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
  14. ↑ Cimpanu, Catalin. "The Internet's Biggest Hacking Forum Removes Its DDoS-for-Hire Section". Softpedia. Retrieved 3 June 2018.
  15. ↑ Kan, Michael. "Hacking forum cuts section allegedly linked to DDoS attacks". Computerworld. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
  16. ↑ Waqas (2016-10-29). "HackForums delete "Server Stress Testing" amidst links with Dyn DDoS Attack". HackRead. Retrieved 2018-07-13.
  17. ↑ "Internet Experts Issue Dire Warning to Government about the Internet of Things". The Daily Dot. 16 November 2016. Retrieved 3 June 2018.
  18. ↑ "Ukraine arrests 'Avalanche' cybercrime organiser: police". Retrieved 2 June 2018.
  19. ↑ "Bot Roundup: Avalanche, Kronos, NanoCore — Krebs on Security". krebsonsecurity.com. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
  20. ↑ Poulsen, Kevin (31 March 2017). "FBI Arrests Hacker Who Hacked No One". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
  21. ↑ "Google Notifies People Targeted by Secret FBI Investigation". Motherboard. 2018-09-04. Retrieved 2018-09-22.
  22. ↑ "Have I Been Pwned: Pwned websites". haveibeenpwned.com. Retrieved 11 July 2018.
  23. ↑ Wei, Wang. "Popular Hackforums Website Defaced by Egyptian Hacker". The Hacker News. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
  24. ↑ Gurung, Vivek. "HackForums.net hacked and deface by Egyptian hacker". Cyber Kendra - Hacking News and Tech Updates. Retrieved 2018-07-13.
  25. ↑ Murdock, Jason (4 May 2016). "HackForums may have just been hacked". International Business Times UK. Retrieved 3 June 2018.
  26. ↑ "Troy Hunt on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 3 June 2018.
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