Law enforcement agencies from multiple countries around the world have joined forces to dismantle two of the most prominent cybercrime forums, Cracked and Nulled. The forums, which have been active since 2015 and 2018 respectively, served as hubs for criminal activities including the selling and buying of hacking tools, malware, and other illicit software.
According to the German Federal Criminal Police Office, both Cracked and Nulled had around five million registered user accounts each, making them significant players in the underground economy of the Internet. The forums provided a platform for users to trade in DDoS attacks, malware, hacking tools, and leaked data. Additionally, users could access AI-based tools for security vulnerabilities and exchanged phishing techniques.
The investigation, dubbed “Operation Talent,” uncovered that the two forums shared the same administrators. This connection was evident in the similar technical and structural characteristics of both platforms. Authorities identified eight individuals who were believed to be directly involved in running the forums, including two German citizens residing in Germany and Spain.
The German authorities have charged the two German defendants with operating criminal trading platforms online, a crime that carries a prison sentence of six months to ten years upon conviction. The remaining suspects, including a 27-year-old woman and men aged 21 to 29, will face legal proceedings in the United States, Spain, Greece, and Italy. Two individuals, one of them a German citizen, have been arrested in connection with the operation of the forums.
As part of the operation, Europol seized 12 domains associated with Cracked and Nulled, including related services such as a financial processor named Sellix and a hosting service called StarkRDP. Sellix was used by Cracked for transactions, while StarkRDP was endorsed on both platforms and operated by the same suspects.
The authorities have also taken control of the IT infrastructure of the two forums, allowing them access to email addresses, IP addresses, and communication histories of all registered users. This information will be crucial in launching further international investigations into the criminal activities conducted through these platforms.
The swift and coordinated action by law enforcement agencies from Germany, Australia, Spain, Greece, Romania, Italy, France, and the USA demonstrates a strong commitment to combatting cybercrime on a global scale. By shutting down Cracked and Nulled, authorities have dealt a significant blow to the underground economy of illicit cyber activities.