Policy & Regulation
Russian police arrest alleged administrator of LeakBase forum
Russian police have reportedly arrested the alleged administrator of LeakBase, a cybercrime forum recently dismantled by an international law enforcement operation involving 14 countries.
On Wednesday, Russian police arrested the alleged administrator of the cybercrime forum LeakBase, according to the Russian state-owned news agency TASS. The arrest follows an international law enforcement operation that recently shut down the forum’s official site and seized its database. Earlier this month, U.S. authorities and Europol, the European Union’s law enforcement agency, announced the shutdown of LeakBase’s official site and the seizure of its database. This database contained more than 142,000 members and 215,000 messages.
According to TASS, the alleged administrator and creator of LeakBase, whose name was not released, was a resident of Taganrog, which is a coastal city in southern Russia.
The international operation against LeakBase involved law enforcement agents in 14 countries. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the operation resulted in the execution of search warrants, arrests, and interviews across multiple jurisdictions. In total, the coordinated effort led to 13 arrests. The countries involved in the law enforcement operation included:
- Australia
- Belgium
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Spain
- United Kingdom
- United States
Launched in 2021, LeakBase hosted an archive of hacked databases that included hundreds of millions of usernames and passwords, banking account and routing information, and credit card numbers. The U.S. Department of Justice described the platform as one of the world’s largest online forums for cybercriminals, which was used for sharing hacking tools and passwords.
While the broader operation involved agencies across 14 countries, Europol clarified that it did not cooperate with Russian authorities regarding the reported arrest of the forum’s administrator. Claire Georges, a spokesperson for Europol, stated: “We don’t cooperate with Russian authorities and were not involved in the reported arrest.”
Why it matters
The takedown of LeakBase, which hosted massive archives of stolen credentials, highlights the effectiveness of cross-border law enforcement cooperation in disrupting cybercrime infrastructure, even when geopolitical tensions complicate direct collaboration.