International operation shuts down LeakBase cybercrime platform

U.S. law enforcement agencies, Europol, and several other countries conducted a major operation against the cybercriminal platform LeakBase, one of the largest English-language forums linked to the trade of stolen data and malicious software. As a result of coordinated actions, the site was seized and its infrastructure shut down. A seizure notice now appears on the platform's main page.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the forum's database included around 142,000 registered users and over 215,000 messages. During the operation, authorities gained access to user accounts, private messages, IP logs, and payment information. Reports indicate that the platform distributed data obtained from major cyberattacks, including hundreds of millions of account credentials, bank card numbers, and confidential corporate information.

The operation took place on March 3–4, coordinated from Europol's headquarters in The Hague. In addition to server seizures, arrests, searches, and preventive visits to suspects were carried out. Overall, law enforcement conducted about 100 procedural actions targeting 37 of the platform's most active users. Participants included the U.S., eight EU countries, as well as Australia, Canada, Malaysia, the United Kingdom, and Kosovo.

Experts note that the damage from cybercrime continues to rise and could reach an estimated $10.5 trillion annually. If cybercrime were treated as a separate economy, it would rank as the world's third-largest by GDP. Despite increased international cooperation, combating digital crime remains a complex challenge, especially with the growth of automated attacks using artificial intelligence.