US law enforcement authorities this week arrested the person allegedly responsible for hacking the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 2021. As reported by Krebs on Security (via The Verge), FBI agents on Wednesday arrested Conor Brian Fitzpatrick on suspicion of running BreachForums. As Brian Krebs notes, the website’s administrator, “Pompompurin,” is responsible for or connected to some of the most high-profile hacks in recent memory, including multiple incidents involving the FBI.
In 2021, Pompompurin took credit for compromising the agency’s email servers and sending thousands of fake cybersecurity warnings. Pompompurin is also linked to the 2022 breach of the FBI’s InfraGard network, an incident that saw the contact information of its more than 80,000 members go on sale. Separately, Pompompurin is connected to the 2021 Robinhood hack that saw the data of 7 million users compromised, and the 2022 Twitter data leak.
In a sworn affidavit, one of the FBI agents involved in the arrest claims Fitzpatrick identified himself as Pompompurin and admitted to being the owner of BreachForums. The forum rose from the ashes of RaidForums, which the FBI raided and shut down last year. For the moment, BreachForums is still up and running. “I think it’s safe to assume [Pompompurin] won’t be coming back, so I’ll be taking ownership of the forum,” said a user named Baphomet. “I have most, if not all the access necessary to protect BF infrastructure and users.” Fitzpatrick will appear before a federal court on March 24th.
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Igor Bonifacic