FBI Arrests BreachForum Owner for Hacking Agency’s Email Servers in 2021

Pompompurin is connected with some of the most high-profile hacks.

The United States authorities arrested the person who is responsible for hacking the email servers of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2021. FBI identified Conor Brian Fitzpatrick, also known as Pompompurin, who is connected with some of the most high-profile hacks.

FBI
MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images

Arresting the Hacker

The person behind BreachForums online hacking community, Conor Brian Fitzpatrick, was arrested by the FBI last Wednesday at his home in New York and charged with allegedly access device fraud. Apart from this case, the hacker also participated in several breaches.

Fitzpatrick took responsibility for hacking the email servers of the FBI in 2021 and sent out thousands of fake cybersecurity warnings from the accessed email, as per FBI Special Agent Joh Longmire.

However, he was released on Thursday on a $300,000 bond, accompanied by his lawyer Benjamin Gold, who represented him in his court appearance. He has to appear in the District Court of the Eastern of Virgian on March 24th.

Because of court purposes, Bleeping Computer reported that the hacker has surrendered all of his documents and will not be allowed to travel outside the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York and the Eastern District of Virginia until his court appearance. Aside from this, contacting witnesses, codefendants, or coconspirators is restricted by the court.

Pompompurin

The hacker has been a well-known hacker in a cybercriminal underground to breach other companies and sell or leak stolen data through several social media or forums. The hacker has also been a high-profile member of the RaidForums cybercrime community.

Engadget reported that he also admitted to owning BreachForums at the time of his arrest and identified himself as Pompompurin. He created BreachForums after the FBI seized RaidForums, which is a similar website for hacking that sold information.

Previous Attacks

Aside from this case from the FBI, The Verge reported that Pompompurin is somehow connected to other hacking controversies for the past few years, including the 2021 Robinhood attack and exposing the information of millions of users, and the leak of user handles of an email address on Twitter last November 2022.

The FBI attack in 2021 was also linked to Infragard's breach, which is the FBI's information-sharing program that hopes to connect people with raising awareness regarding the physical and digital dangers to different government organizations and independent companies.

He hosted several stolen data for almost 1,000 companies and websites. The forum will steal databases that disclose people's personal information like names, emails, and passwords/ After obtaining the data, the information will be offered for sale and can be used for fraud.

BreachForums is also part of the DC Health breach, the healthcare marketplace used by many politicians and government officials in the country. Despite the arrest, a new post was seen on the forum and indicated that the site will remain up and running under new ownership.

Written by Inno Flores
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