FBI targets criminal hackers in major cyber operation

The FBI has seized several web domains linked to a major criminal marketplace known as BreachForums, the agency said Monday. Hacker groups like ShinyHunters, Baphomet, and IntelBroker use the domains to buy, sell, and trade stolen data and facilitate extortion, according to an FBI social media post. The agency worked with officials from the French government to execute the operation.

What exactly did the bust do? The seizure cut off access to a key hub that bad actors used to monetize hacks, recruit hacking partners, and target victims across various sectors, the FBI explained. One of the groups identified, ShinyHunters, is known for carrying out voice phishing attacks. The group specifically targeted the cloud-based software company Salesforce by conning customer service employees out of their company credentials, posing as company IT workers on the phone.

Dig deeper: Listen to Mary Muncy’s January report on The World and Everything in It about growing security concerns around sophisticated Chinese hacks.