The notorious Russian cybercrime forum “Maza” has been hacked, resulting in the leakage of its members’ data , as part of a series of attacks targeting primarily Russian-language hacking forums. Maza, also known as Mazafuka, is one of the oldest cybercrime forums, where the community must vote before new would-be members are granted access . The breach on Maza (which has been active since at least 2003) was discovered on March 3 by researchers at Flashpoint .
Maza is a closed and very restricted forum for Russian-speaking hackers. The community has been linked to the sale of stolen financial data and payment card details. It also hosts discussions about malware, exploits, spam, money laundering, and other topics.
After the Russian cybercrime forum was hacked, the attackers who took over it posted a warning message that read: “Your data has been leaked / This forum has been hacked.”
The breach included information such as user IDs, usernames, email, messenger app links – including Skype, MSN and Aim – and passwords. Flashpoint told ZDNet that around 2,000 accounts were exposed.
During discussions about the breach, some users say they plan to find another forum, while others claim that the leaked database is old or "incomplete," according to researchers.
Flashpoint does not currently know who hacked the forum, but said it is possible an online translator was used to post the warning message. This means that the person who wrote the message may not know Russian, unless the errors were intentional, in an attempt to mislead.
This is not the first time Maza has been hacked. The forum was also hacked in 2011. According to reports, the forum was hacked by a “competitor” of its, DirectConnection, and data belonging to more than 2,000 users was leaked. Shortly after, DirectConnection was also hacked.
Aleksei Burkov, who goes by the nickname “Kopa,” is said to have been the administrator of both forums. Burkov was sentenced to nine years in prison by US in 2020 for operating the CardPlanet forum.
