A British man accused of working below the alias “IntelBroker” on cybercrime boards has been indicted for allegedly promoting stolen knowledge in a case that precipitated greater than $25 million in harm.
The US Southern District of New York Legal professional’s Workplace announced Kai West’s indictment on Wednesday. West allegedly operated on on-line black markets below the IntelBroker pseudonym and precipitated in extra of $25 million in harm to victims.
Former US Securities and Change Fee (SEC) Chair and lawyer Jay Clayton was among the many folks chargeable for unsealing the indictment. “This motion displays the FBI’s dedication to pursuing cybercriminals all over the world,” he stated.
West reportedly conspired with on-line cybercrime group CyberN***ers to steal knowledge from a number of firms. These included a telecommunications firm, a municipal healthcare supplier, an web service supplier and over 40 different companies.
Undercover buy triggered fees
Based on the complaint, an undercover regulation enforcement agent despatched a non-public message to IntelBroker to buy knowledge of a sufferer for $250 price of Bitcoin (BTC). An handle attributed to West was offered, and after the cost, the info was delivered, allegedly together with three admin-level usernames and passwords.
West and his on-line collaborators reportedly supplied the illicitly acquired knowledge on the market for over $2 million. He was then arrested in France in February, and the US is at the moment looking for his extradition.
FBI Assistant Director in Cost Christopher Raia stated West is a “serial hacker” and that he was in a position to “promote it for tens of millions in illicit funds.” IntelBroker was active on the now-defunct cybercrime discussion board BreachForums.
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Based on the announcement, a evaluation of the 158 threads allegedly began by West supplied stolen knowledge on the market, in Discussion board-1 credit (BreachForums’ inner forex), in addition to free of charge. He was reportedly lively from roughly January 2023 to February 2025, with no less than 41 of his threads promoting knowledge from firms based mostly within the US.
Of these 158 threads, 16 posts included a particular asking value for the info, reaching a complete of no less than $2,467,000. Messages allegedly written by West additionally confirmed that he accepted funds by way of privateness coin Monero (XMR).
IntelBroker achieved notoriety on BreachForums to the extent that he was recognized as the positioning’s proprietor beginning in August 2024.
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Knowledge leaks and breaches proceed taking place
The information follows the latest leak of more than 16 billion login credentials from main on-line service suppliers, which might have potential penalties for cryptocurrency holders. Earlier this month, it was reported that Coinbase was knowledgeable in January that an worker of an outsourcing agency may have leaked customer data.
The breach was disclosed in mid-Might, when a $20 million extortion attempt hit Coinbase after cybercriminals recruited abroad assist brokers to leak consumer knowledge. “These insiders abused their entry to buyer assist programs to steal the account knowledge for a small subset of shoppers,” Coinbase stated on the time.
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