German police disrupt Cracked, Nulled cybercrime forums

German law enforcement led an international takedown of popular hacking forums Cracked and Nulled, Europol announced Thursday.

Cracked and Nulled are two of the most prominent cybercrime forums in the world, Europol noted in a press release, with both having approximately 10 million users total. Prior to the disruption, the forums were used to discuss illicit activity as well as sell illegal goods, stolen data, malware and hacking tools.

The disruption effort, which took place from Jan. 28 to 30, led to the arrest of two suspects, the seizure of 17 servers and 50 electronic devices, and approximately 300,000 euro of cash and cryptocurrencies seized. Seven properties were also searched. According to Europol, which provided operational, analytic and forensic support, German police led the operation. Law enforcement from Australia, France, Greece, Italy, Romania, Spain and the U.S. also provided support.

"Throughout the course of the action day, 12 domains within the platforms Cracked and Nulled were seized," the press release read. "Other associated services were also taken down; including a financial processor named Sellix which was used by Cracked, and a hosting service called StarkRDP, which was promoted on both of the platforms and run by the same suspects."

The joint law enforcement effort was referred to as "Operation Talent."

Europol said the forums "offered a quick entry point into the cybercrime scene," and that the arrested suspects earned an estimated 1 million euro in profits.

Chester Wisniewski, director and global field CTO at Sophos, told Informa TechTarget that both forums served as an "on ramp" for cybercrime, widely available for amateur criminals and those trying to "learn the trade."

"Whenever these types of sites are taken down there quickly arises a new one to replace it, as cybercrime abhors a vacuum," he said. "The most serious criminals do business in darker corners of the internet and will likely be unimpacted by this action. Any time we have the ability to disrupt criminal networks and make it more difficult for beginners to get sucked into more serious criminal activity it is a victory, but its immediate impact will be minimal."

Europol's announcement of the Cracked and Nulled disruptions follow other international cybercrime busts announced recently by the agency, including Manson Market as well as an encrypted messaging service used by cybercriminals known as "Matrix." Both takedowns occurred last month.

Informa TechTarget contacted Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office for additional information.

Alexander Culafi is a senior information security news writer and podcast host for Informa TechTarget.