Breach database LeakedSource is down after reportedly being raided by feds

LeakedSource, a for-profit database of breaches, is down Thursday amid unconfirmed reports that U.S. federal agents raided and shut down the site early in the morning.

The U.S. Department of Justice declined to confirm or deny to CyberScoop any information about the reported raid.

LeakedSource became popular as it supplied reporters with breaking news of breaches, allowed users to find if their own credentials were included and sold entire databases for cash to any buyer. If there was a raid, those database sales could be a likely reason. The posted and hosted databases comprised millions of stolen accounts from various websites, including AdultFriendFinder and DailyMotion in recent months.

Hackers often buy leaked databases and then use the stolen credentials to illegally access accounts across various websites. LeakedSource was criticized for this exact problem last year, though it defended its work and said it was not responsible for hacking. The site’s administrators have said they were helping people by notifying them of breaches.

Legally, it may not matter. Posting stolen passwords and then charging for them could be two separate and complementary crimes: wiretapping and being an accomplice to a conspiracy.

“If the whole goal of the site is to warn me, it should never give out my password,” Susan Freiwald, a law professor at the University of San Francisco told Computer World last year. “I think this is very suspicious. It doesn’t make sense.”

A contact with LeakedSource has not responded to CyberScoop’s inquiries.

The following Pastebin post appeared early this morning as the site first went down:

“Yeah you heard it here first. Sorry for all you kids who don’t have all your own Databases.

Leakedsource is down forever and won’t be coming back. Owner raided early this morning. Wasn’t arrested, but all SSD’s got taken, and Leakedsource servers got subpoena’d and placed under federal investigation. If somehow he recovers from this and launches LS again, then I’ll be wrong. But I am not wrong.

Also, this is not a troll thread.

EDIT: Don’t forget that LTD was the first person to make this news public.”