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FBI Genesis Market forum seizure overview:
- Who: The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) has executed a seizure warrant of hacking marketplace Genesis Market.
- Why: Genesis Market has been linked to millions of financially motivated cyberattacks around the world.
- Where: The marketplace takedown has global implications.
- What are my options: SentryPC provides security software to protect your data from hacks.
Hacking marketplace Genesis Market has had its website seized by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), according to a notice posted on the forum domain.
The FBI has not yet publicly announced the seizure — called Operation Cookie Monster — however, a notice on Genesis Market’s domain revealed the agency has executed a seizure warrant, TechCrunch reports.
The notice reportedly revealed that the seizure warrant was also executed in conjunction with law enforcement agencies from Europe, Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Poland and Sweden.
Genesis Market is notorious for being an online storefront where bad actors can purchase compromised login credentials and stolen digital browser footprints, TechCrunch reports.
In addition to the FBI’s seizure warrant, 120 individuals were arrested and 200 searches were carried out across the globe, according to the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA).
“Targeting this infrastructure is at the core of the NCA’s efforts to disrupt the highest harm offenders and protect the public from those seeking to infiltrate their lives, stealing their identities and their money,” the NCA said in a statement.
FBI provides Have I Been Pwned with compromised emails, passwords found on Genesis Market
The FBI has provided the data breach notification website Have I Been Pwned with millions of compromised email addresses and passwords found on Genesis Market, TechCrunch reports.
Genesis Market has reportedly been active since 2017 but required a direct invitation to access its marketplace purporting to sell stolen credentials, cookies, and digital browser footprints it had gathered.
Stolen fingerprints included session cookies, IP addresses, plugins and operating system details that allowed bad actors to gain unauthorized access to online banking and subscription services without a password or two-factor token, reports TechCrunch.
Genesis Market has reportedly been linked to millions of cyberattacks around the world since its inception, including a June 2021 data breach of Electronic Arts that hackers claimed they were able to accomplish by purchasing a $10 bot from the marketplace.
In December, a pair of New York men were arrested and charged with working with Russian hackers to breach into the taxi dispatch system at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Have you had your login credentials compromised in a data breach? Let us know in the comments!
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