Darkode is, or rather was, a hacking forum used by Lizard Squad and other cybercriminals. The forum was shut down today after a coordinated action by the FBI and law enforcement agencies from 20 countries.
Twenty-eight people have been arrested so far.
Darkode members allegedly used the site to trade and distribute hacking tools and information. The forum contained details of zero-day attacks and hacking techniques that no one else knew about.
To become a member of the forum, someone had to be recommended by another member. Before joining, however, they had to publish their CV with the skills and achievements they could offer to the community, as reported by the BBC.
“There was a hierarchical structure of membership, and the status of users determined who could communicate with each other and their access to the goods and services offered.”
"Most of the cybercrime forums are in Russian or some other language that's not English, but this was an English-language forum," security researcher Brian Krebs told the BBC.
“It was a kind of meeting place for cybercriminals of different nationalities and languages.”
“A fairly significant number of people were selling botnet services and there were also services for installing malware and phishing.”
He also added that members of Lizard Squad – a group that has carried out high-profile attacks on Sony, Microsoft and other companies – also participated as guests at the forum.
“The guy who was the forum administrator used the alias Sp3c,” Krebs said.
"He was a leading member of the Lizard Squad. What's interesting is that you won't see his name on the lists of those who were arrested or who are suspected of being part of the group."
The FBI said that Operation Shrouded Horizon found that 300 people had used the forum, including from Australia, Bosnia, Brazil, Israel, Colombia and Nigeria. The US agency said efforts to identify other suspects were still “ongoing.”
