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ShinyHunters said it has abandoned BreachForums and released an updated database affecting more than 300,000 users of the cybercrime marketplace. Reports say the leak goes beyond basic credentials and includes full account profile and activity data, including usernames, email addresses, hashed passwords, salts, IP addresses, login metadata, and forum activity timestamps.
The group said maintaining the forum ecosystem became a "waste of time" after the FBI seizure of BreachForums and claimed that all currently active BreachForums domains are fake. ShinyHunters also threatened to publish fuller backups — including private messages, posts, and additional user data — unless the remaining forums shut down, while asserting it holds exploits for all MyBB 1.8 versions; the identity of the operators behind current BreachForums instances remains unclear, with speculation ranging from opportunistic criminals to possible law enforcement honeypots.
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A French Interior Ministry cybercrime report said BreachForums had recently increased claims involving French organizations in an apparent retaliatory posture toward French authorities. The report also said the forum was mass-publishing recycled databases from older breaches more for visibility and signaling than for monetization.
ShinyHunters announced that BreachForums had been rebuilt from scratch after the prior infrastructure was allegedly hacked and its database and source code stolen from the hosting server. The rebooted forum was presented as operating under a new administrator, "X," while multiple BreachForums-branded sites remained online.
Alongside the leak and departure message, ShinyHunters claimed to possess exploits affecting all MyBB 1.8 versions. The statement added a technical escalation to the group's warnings around BreachForums-related infrastructure.
ShinyHunters warned it could publish additional BreachForums data unless remaining forums shut down. The threatened material allegedly includes private messages, emails, IP addresses, posts, and other full-backup content.
At the same time as its departure announcement, ShinyHunters released an updated BreachForums database affecting more than 300,000 users. Reporting said the leak contained extensive account data, including usernames, email addresses, hashed passwords, salts, IP addresses, login metadata, and activity information.
ShinyHunters publicly stated that it was walking away from BreachForums, describing continued involvement in the forum ecosystem as a waste of time after the FBI action. The group also asserted that currently active BreachForums domains are fake.
ShinyHunters said it abandoned BreachForums following an FBI seizure of the forum in October 2025. This takedown became the turning point cited for the group's departure from the platform.
During an August 11, 2025 migration and recovery effort after BreachForums (.hn) was shut down under law enforcement pressure, administrators allegedly left a MySQL users table and forum PGP private keys in an unsecured temporary folder. The exposed files were reportedly downloaded externally and later became the basis for the broader BreachForums data breach disclosures.
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A new **BreachForums** reboot appeared online with an administrator using the handle **"X"**, who claimed the forum had been rebuilt after its infrastructure, database, and source code were hacked from a hosting server and the prior operator **"N/A"** abandoned the project. The alleged revival was quickly disputed: **ShinyHunters** publicly denied any role in the new site and said it had not operated BreachForums since the FBI seizure in October 2025. Researchers also pointed to inconsistencies in X's account, raising doubts about whether the latest site is a legitimate successor, a copycat operation, or a setup using leaked forum data. The confusion comes amid a broader compromise tied to the BreachForums ecosystem, including the leak on Telegram of **918 databases** previously sold through the forum. Reporting said the exposed trove contains personal and sensitive data from numerous historical breaches, creating renewed opportunities for **phishing, ransomware, and espionage**. Multiple BreachForums-branded sites are now online, complicating attribution and increasing the possibility that some may be impersonation efforts, criminal competition, or potential law enforcement honeypots following repeated takedowns of major cybercrime forums.
Jun 29, 2026
BreachForums suffered repeated compromises that exposed member data across multiple iterations of the cybercrime forum. An earlier breach leaked details on about **4,000 members**, while a later incident tied to the forum's reboot reportedly spilled data on roughly **325,000 users**, underscoring the scale of exposure affecting one of the most prominent underground marketplaces. Reporting on the more recent compromise said the forum was hit through a **MyBB `0-day`** affecting unpatched software, with forum administrators claiming the intrusion was also linked to a broader law-enforcement crackdown. The incident disrupted the platform, prompted leadership changes including the emergence of a new admin, and highlighted how even criminal forums remain vulnerable to the same software flaws, operational failures, and data-security lapses that they routinely exploit in others.
Jul 12, 2026
A major data breach has exposed the entire user database of BreachForums, a prominent English-language hacking forum on the dark web. The breach was announced on the shinyhunte[.]rs platform, which published a message and made the leaked database available for download and analysis. BreachForums, which had previously replaced RaidForums after its seizure, has been a central hub for cybercriminal activity, including the distribution of stolen data and hacking tools. The forum has faced multiple shutdowns and seizures, but continued to operate under new management and through various hosting providers and domains. In addition to the BreachForums breach, recent activity on dark web forums has included the sale and sharing of data from a South Korean university and a Saudi Arabian employment platform. These incidents highlight the ongoing risks posed by data leaks and breaches on dark web marketplaces, where sensitive information is traded and discussed. Security researchers have made related indicators of compromise (IOCs) and analysis available to subscribers, emphasizing the need for vigilance among organizations whose data may be exposed in such forums.
Jun 29, 2026