The FBI has seized the domain of WeLeakInfo.com, an online service that sold data from hacked and breached websites.
The domain seizure and termination of WeLeakInfo’s services was the result of a joint operation with the UK National Crime Agency, the Netherlands National Police Corps, the German Bundeskriminalamt (the Federal Criminal Police Office of Germany), and the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
“The website had claimed to provide its users a search engine to review and obtain the personal information illegally obtained in over 10,000 data breaches containing over 12 billion indexed records – including, for example, names, email addresses, usernames, phone numbers, and passwords for online accounts. The website sold subscriptions so that any user could access the results of these data breaches, with subscriptions providing unlimited searches and access during the subscription period (one day, one week, one month, or three months),” wrote the Justice Department in a public statement.
Records were available on the site for as little as $2 for a single day’s use, or $70 per month for unlimited access to the breached data.
Dutch authorities arrested a 22-year-old man on suspicion of operating the site following the seizure.
The relative frequency and scope of data breaches over the last several years has created a secondary market for aggregated records. Another site offering access to breached passwords, LeakedSource, was seized by Canadian authorities in 2017.
