Russia arrests suspected owner of LeakBase cybercrime forum

LeakBase, a major online cybercrime forum with roughly 142,000 members used to buy and sell stolen databases, exploits, and other criminal services, was taken down in March 2026 as part of an international law enforcement operation ("Operation Leak") coordinated by the FBI and Europol. Authorities executed around 100 enforcement actions across multiple countries, arrested an alleged owner/administrator in Russia, seized the forum domain and database (including private messages and IP logs), and intend to use the seized data as evidence in ongoing investigations.