Leak Zone

An unprotected Elasticsearch instance belonging to Leak Zone, an underground forum for cybercriminals, exposed millions of IP addresses and login timestamps of its users. The database, containing over 22 million records, was accessible to anyone, potentially revealing user identities to security researchers, rival criminals, and law enforcement. The exposure included real-time updates and indications of anonymization tool usage. The cause of the exposure remains unknown but is likely due to human error, such as unsecured configurations. The incident highlights the persistent issue of exposed databases leading to significant data leaks.

Source: https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/this-major-cybercrime-forum-might-have-just-exposed-all-its-users

TPRM report: https://www.rankiteo.com/company/techcrunch

"id": "tec853080725",
"linkid": "techcrunch",
"type": "Breach",
"date": "7/2025",
"severity": "85",
"impact": "4",
"explanation": "Attack with significant impact with customers data leaks"

{'affected_entities': [{'customers_affected': '100,000 members',
                        'industry': 'Cybercrime',
                        'name': 'Leak Zone',
                        'size': 'Approximately 100,000 members',
                        'type': 'Underground Forum'}],
 'data_breach': {'data_encryption': 'None',
                 'number_of_records_exposed': '22 million',
                 'personally_identifiable_information': 'IP addresses',
                 'sensitivity_of_data': 'High',
                 'type_of_data_compromised': 'IP addresses, login timestamps'},
 'description': 'An unprotected Elasticsearch instance belonging to Leak Zone, '
                'an underground forum, exposed millions of IP addresses of its '
                'users. The database contained over 22 million records, '
                'including IP addresses and login timestamps, potentially '
                'revealing user identities to security researchers, rival '
                'criminals, and law enforcement.',
 'impact': {'brand_reputation_impact': 'High (Underground forum users exposed)',
            'data_compromised': 'IP addresses and login timestamps',
            'identity_theft_risk': 'High',
            'systems_affected': 'Elasticsearch Database'},
 'investigation_status': 'Resolved (Database locked down)',
 'lessons_learned': 'Exposed databases continue to be a leading cause of data '
                    'leaks, often due to human error such as forgetting to set '
                    'passwords or encrypt data. Cloud security operates on a '
                    'shared responsibility model, which many IT teams may not '
                    'fully understand.',
 'post_incident_analysis': {'corrective_actions': 'Database locked down',
                            'root_causes': 'Human error (unprotected '
                                           'Elasticsearch instance)'},
 'recommendations': 'Ensure proper security measures are in place for cloud '
                    'databases, including password protection and encryption. '
                    'Educate IT teams on the shared responsibility model for '
                    'cloud security.',
 'references': [{'source': 'TechCrunch'}],
 'response': {'containment_measures': 'Database locked down'},
 'title': 'Exposed Elasticsearch Instance Belonging to Leak Zone',
 'type': 'Data Leak',
 'vulnerability_exploited': 'Exposed Elasticsearch Database'}