Hacker forum "Cracked" is back online, foiling FBI take down

Cracked.io, a well-known hacker marketplace seized by the FBI in a massive raid earlier this year, has been resurrected with a new website address and what appears to be thousands of new (and former) users.

With a new website address and a not-new slogan, the Staff Team at Cracked[.]sh posted a “Resumption of service” announcement at 6:01 p.m. E.T. informing users of its return and a new administrator at its helm, who goes by the username “@Liars.”

“Dear Cracked Community,

As you all know, the 29.01.2025 has been a very dark day in our history. It took us some weeks to reflect on what had happened, how to move forward and especially when to move forward.

We want to thank everyone that was waiting patiently for the return of Cracked.”

The announcement went on to explain that the administrators were able to import a January 25th backup of the site and have been busy reworking its “shoutbox” chat feature.

The staff is referring to the January 29th FBI seizure of four unsavory web platforms – Cracked, Nulled, MySellIX, and StarkRDP – all part of an international cyber law enforcement operation nicknamed “Operation Talent.”

At the time of seizure, hacker marketplaces Cracked[.]io and Nulled[.]to – a place where bad actors buy, sell, and freely share leaked data, hacking tools, stolen login credentials, and more – boasted a combined nine million users, the FBI said.

MySellIX[.]io, a criminal e-commerce platform, was allegedly used by Cracked administrators for payment processing. StarkRDP[.]io was a known web hosting service also popular with cybercriminals.

“To give you some Information regarding the seizure - our Server was encrypted and law enforcement is not able to review your posts, passwords or anything alike,” the team wrote.

The administrators went on to point out that although “measures” have been taken to prevent further seizures, “there isn't a 100% guarantee - especially not in the clearweb.”

“If you are unsure, you are still free to change your passwords or delete your private messages,” it said.

The notice also addressed users who may have made purchases in the four day period between January 25th and the FBI take down.

“Everyone that made a purchase after the 25h January can message @Liars with a proof of payment and we will add back the purchased upgrade or credits," it said.

The new administrators further reassured users “a new payment system should be live within 1 week” and that “every possible forum bug you may encounter will be fixed during the next days and weeks.”

As of Friday, April 11th, 2025, Cracked lists 4.7 million users, 1 million threads, and 36.24 million posts.

Not the first hacker marketplace to resurrect itself, the popular BreachForums has also had its fair share of ups and downs since the March 2023 arrest of its former founder and top administrator, Pompompurin, aka 20-year-old Conor Brian Fitzpatrick from New York.

The site, first seized by the FBI during the arrest, was then resurrected that June by its second in command, Blaphomet, only to be taken down by the FBI again in May 2024.

In between all the hoopla, at one point, the hacker repository vx-underground announced that a notorious hacker gang, ShinyHunters, took over the site in June 2023, only to be hacked by rivals a month later, publishing its database.

In 2024, rumors of a third iteration of Breached were claimed by both Shiny Hunters and another one of the forum's notorious users, USDoD. Both are thought to be responsible for some major breaches, including that of Microsoft, AT&T, and T-Mobile.

After a few more twists and turns, at present, BreachForums is up and running under a new web address (at least the last time I checked) allegedly back under the control of Shiny Hunters.

Former administrator Connor Fitzpatrick made a sweet deal with the feds in 2024, which included no prison time and 20 years supervised release.