FBI Takes Down Cracked, Nulled and Other Hacker Websites

Authorities from the United States and several European countries have taken down a number of hacking forums and communities, including cracked[.]io, nulled[.]to, and a few others during Operation Talent, which is still ongoing. 

These domanins, along with sellix[.]io, cracked.to starkRDP[.]io, and mySellix[.]io, are online forums and communities focusing on sharing information related to hacking, cracking tools, tutorials, and leaked content. The platforms also hold discussions on cracking tools, hacking tutorials, leaks (such as eBooks and apps for various operating systems) and topics specific to coding language, and they feature a marketplace for illicit products like malware and vulnerabilities. 

These are very large communities, as only cracked.io is estimated to host over 18 million posts and nearly 4 million users. Of course, these platforms are also associated with malicious activities. 

Some of the talent might be going away

Operation Talent is an initiative by the FBI and international law enforcement agencies aimed at dismantling cybercrime networks. During this operation, the domains of the above-mentioned websites have been taken down, with the cooperation of multiple countries, including Italy, Spain, France, Greece, Australia, and Romania. 

Users visiting these websites were met with a banner stating: "This website, as well as the information on the customers and victims of the website, has been seized by international law enforcement partners."

Since the operation is ongoing, few details have emerged. However, according to a Hackread report, the DNS and WHOIS records already show the FBI took control of the domains.

The only somewhat relevant information about what was really happening was made available on Telegram by the cracked[.]io team. 

"Now that everyone has more clarity on the situation, Cracked.io has been seized under operation talent with specific reasons being undisclosed. We are still waiting for the official court documentation from the data centre and the domain host. We will inform you guys further on those details once we have it. A sad day indeed for our community." 

It remains to be seen how the operation will conclude and whether authorities will make any arrests.