**Hacking Hub BreachForums Hit by Data Breach - 324,000 Accounts Exposed**
The infamous underground hacking community, BreachForums, has been hit by a data breach, exposing the personal details of over 323,000 users. The leak was discovered on a website recently emerged online, which was used to host a 7Zip archive titled "breachedforum.7z". This archive contained a database table with member records, including usernames, IP addresses, and internal information.
The breach is believed to have occurred during the restoration of BreachForums in August 2025, after the forum was restored from the .hn domain following a law enforcement raid. The administrator of the forum confirmed that a backup of the MyBB user database table was temporarily exposed to the internet and downloaded just once.
According to BleepingComputer, most of the IP addresses mapped back to a local loopback IP address (0x7F000009/127.0.0.9), which are not of much use for researchers or law enforcement. However, just above 70,000 addresses did not contain this IP address and mapped to a public IP address, making it theoretically possible to identify the individuals behind these usernames.
The ShinyHunters ransomware operator group denied any involvement in the leak, stating that they had nothing to do with the website used to host the archive. When BreachForums was restored last summer, this group claimed that the forum was now a honeypot built by law enforcement to trap other hackers and cybercriminals.
The identity of the individual or group responsible for the leak remains a mystery. The administrator of BreachForums stated that their investigation showed that the folder containing the users table and PGP key was downloaded only once during the restoration process.
This data breach raises serious concerns about the security of underground hacking communities and the potential risks to individuals whose personal details have been exposed. As researchers and law enforcement continue to investigate this incident, it is essential to remain vigilant in protecting online identities and preventing similar breaches from occurring in the future.
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