BreachForums Resurfaces—Then Falls Again After Data Exposure
In a fresh twist in the cybercrime underground, a revived version of the notorious hacking forum BreachForums was itself compromised in August 2024, months before law enforcement dismantled the platform in October 2024. The breach exposed 672,000 unique email addresses scraped from user profiles, forum posts, and private messages—highlighting the risks of underground marketplaces even as authorities crack down.
Nearly 53% of the leaked emails were already indexed by LinkedIn, suggesting many victims were professionals or individuals with public digital footprints. The incident underscores the persistent threat posed by cybercriminal forums, where stolen data often circulates before law enforcement intervention. While the takedown disrupted operations, the prior breach serves as a reminder of the volatile nature of these platforms and the lingering exposure of compromised credentials.
Source: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7416038195496267776
HackRead Media cybersecurity rating report: https://www.rankiteo.com/company/hackread
"id": "HAC1768131204",
"linkid": "hackread",
"type": "Breach",
"date": "10/2025",
"severity": "85",
"impact": "4",
"explanation": "Attack with significant impact with customers data leaks"{'affected_entities': [{'customers_affected': '672,000 unique email addresses',
'industry': 'Cybercrime/Underground Marketplace',
'name': 'BreachForums',
'type': 'Forum/Online Community'}],
'data_breach': {'number_of_records_exposed': '672,000',
'personally_identifiable_information': 'Email addresses',
'sensitivity_of_data': 'High',
'type_of_data_compromised': ['Email addresses',
'User data',
'Post data',
'Private messages']},
'date_detected': '2025-08',
'date_publicly_disclosed': '2025-10',
'description': 'A reincarnation of BreachForums was breached in August before '
'being taken down by law enforcement agencies in October. The '
'breach included 672,000 unique email addresses across user, '
'post, and private message tables.',
'impact': {'data_compromised': '672,000 unique email addresses',
'identity_theft_risk': 'High'},
'references': [{'source': 'Have I Been Pwned'}],
'response': {'containment_measures': 'Taken down by law enforcement',
'law_enforcement_notified': 'Yes'},
'title': 'BreachForums (2025) Data Breach',
'type': 'Data Breach'}