Maza (hacker forum)

History

2021: Forum hack, user data breach

In early March 2021, it became known about the hacking of the Maza forum, which is considered the largest closed platform in the Russian darknet. A leak of site data was discovered by the American company Flashpoint, specializing in information security.

According to Kommersant with reference to the Flashpoint report, the leaked database contains logins, passwords, user emails and alternative ways of communicating with them, for example, contacts in ICQ, Skype, Yahoo and MSN.

Hacker messages have been translated into Russian in an online translator, experts noted. In their opinion, this may indicate that the forum was not hacked by Russian-speaking criminals. Or this is an attempt to send analysts on a false trail, according to Flashpoint.

Maza, the largest hacker forum in Russia, hacked, stolen data of thousands of users

According to experts interviewed by the newspaper, anti-hacker groups or the so-called white hackers working at the request of the authorities may be behind the cyber attack on Maza. The forum could also be hacked by rival hackers.

The anti-hacker group TeaMp0isoN may be behind the hack, says Igor Bederov, founder of Internet Search. According to Mr. Bederov, the leaked database contains data of more than 2 thousand specialized cybercriminals. Despite the rapid increase in the number of attacks, only 3% of them are organized by the hacker "elite," the expert points out.

Technical Director Trend Micro Russia CIS and Mikhail Kondrashin says that Maza was already hacked ten years ago.

But this did not shake the stronghold of the cybercrime underground, the specialist believes.

According to him, the data from this forum is "invaluable information" for law enforcement agencies, with proper operational application, this information can help reduce the overall level of cyber threats in the world. A number of other experts interviewed by Kommersant agree with him^[1]

Notes