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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<section id=\"stickybar\" class=\"stickybar stickybar--newsletter js-stickybar\" readability=\"0.82\"> <button class=\"stickybar__close js-stickybar-close\" aria-controls=\"stickybar\"> <svg class=\"icon icon--close\" width=\"21\" height=\"22\" viewBox=\"0 0 21 22\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"m.822.518-.805.805L9.695 11 .017 20.678l.805.805 9.678-9.678 9.677 9.678.806-.805L11.305 11l9.678-9.677-.806-.805-9.677 9.677L.822.518Z\" fill=\"currentColor\" \/><\/svg> <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Close<\/span> <\/button> <\/section>\n<article class=\"single-article content\">\n<div class=\"single-article__container js-single-article-content\">\n<header class=\"single-article__header \" readability=\"25.171503957784\">\n<div class=\"single-article__header-content\" readability=\"30.273913043478\">\n<ul class=\"single-article__eyebrow\">\n<li class=\"single-article__category\"> <a class=\"single-article__category-link\" href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/news\/threats\/cybercrime\/\"> <span>Cybercrime<\/span> <\/a> <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p> Conor Fitzpatrick created and ran a notorious website used to facilitate online crime and leak sensitive data. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"single-article__cover-wrap\">\n<figure class=\"single-article__cover\"> <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/jailed-breachforums-creator-admin-sentenced-to-20-years-of-supervised-release.jpg?resize=640%2C426&ssl=1\" class=\"single-article__cover-image wp-post-image\" alt decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/jailed-breachforums-creator-admin-sentenced-to-20-years-of-supervised-release-3.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/jailed-breachforums-creator-admin-sentenced-to-20-years-of-supervised-release-3.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/jailed-breachforums-creator-admin-sentenced-to-20-years-of-supervised-release-3.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/jailed-breachforums-creator-admin-sentenced-to-20-years-of-supervised-release-3.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/jailed-breachforums-creator-admin-sentenced-to-20-years-of-supervised-release-3.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/jailed-breachforums-creator-admin-sentenced-to-20-years-of-supervised-release-3.jpg?resize=600,400 600w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/jailed-breachforums-creator-admin-sentenced-to-20-years-of-supervised-release-3.jpg?resize=252,168 252w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/jailed-breachforums-creator-admin-sentenced-to-20-years-of-supervised-release-3.jpg?resize=506,337 506w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/jailed-breachforums-creator-admin-sentenced-to-20-years-of-supervised-release-3.jpg?resize=1013,675 1013w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/jailed-breachforums-creator-admin-sentenced-to-20-years-of-supervised-release-3.jpg?resize=1265,843 1265w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1013px) 100vw, 1013px\"><figcaption> The FBI seal is seen outside the headquarters building in Washington, DC on July 5, 2016.(Photo credit should read YURI GRIPAS\/AFP via Getty Images) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"single-article__content\">\n<div class=\"single-article__content-inner has-drop-cap\"> <html readability=\"41.459163346614\"><body readability=\"84.274687250466\"><\/p>\n<p>Conor Fitzpatrick, the creator and administrator of the BreachForums cybercrime website, was sentenced to 20 years of supervised release Friday.<\/p>\n<p>A federal judged deemed that the first two years of the 20-year sentence will be served as home confinement, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/24369417-749c028e-76a1-45bc-ad7c-b9cbf1be0c6c\">a sentencing document posted Friday<\/a>. Fitzpatrick will have no access to the internet for the first year of his home confinement and must register with state sex offender registries.<\/p>\n<p>Fitzpatrick, 21, was originally arrested March 15, 2023, at his family\u2019s hope in Peekskill, N.Y., and admitted to owning and operating BreachForums under the \u201cpompompurin\u201d moniker, <a href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.vaed.535542\/gov.uscourts.vaed.535542.2.0.pdf\">according to court records<\/a>. He was released on a $300,000 bond, but was arrested again on Jan. 2 of this year for violating the conditions of his pretrial release by using a computer without the required monitoring software and using virtual private network (VPN) services. <\/p>\n<p>Fitzpatrick launched BreachForums in March 2022 in the wake of the <a href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/raidforums-seized-doj\/\">law enforcement takedown<\/a> of RaidForums, another popular cybercrime marketplace.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad ad--inline_1 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"238\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/jailed-breachforums-creator-admin-sentenced-to-20-years-of-supervised-release-1.jpg?resize=238%2C300&ssl=1\" alt class=\"wp-image-78834\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/jailed-breachforums-creator-admin-sentenced-to-20-years-of-supervised-release-1.jpg 238w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/jailed-breachforums-creator-admin-sentenced-to-20-years-of-supervised-release-1.jpg?resize=133,168 133w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 238px) 100vw, 238px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Conor Fitzpatrick (Courtesy Alexandria Sheriff\u2019s Office)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia sought to imprison Fitzpatrick for 188 months \u2014 nearly 16 years \u2014 based on the nearly 900 stolen databases, comprising over 14 billion individual records, that were made available to members of the BreachForums website, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/24369204-65\">according to court documents filed earlier this month<\/a>. Additionally, prosecutors said, at the time of his arrest \u201che knowingly possessed approximately 26 video files containing visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, including videos depicting prepubescent minors.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fitzpatrick\u2019s attorneys filed their own sentencing recommendation memo under seal, <a href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.vaed.540114\/gov.uscourts.vaed.540114.68.0.pdf\">citing<\/a> \u201cconfidential and medical information that the public would not, under any other circumstances, be entitled to see.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fitzpatrick pleaded guilty on July 13, 2023, to conspiracy to commit access device fraud, solicitation for the purpose of offering access devices, and possession of child pornography, according to court records.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBy creating a platform for hackers and fraudsters to connect and conduct business, the defendant made it possible for BreachForums members to commit exponentially more crimes and more sophisticated crimes than any could have done alone,\u201d prosecutors wrote in the memo, adding that the \u201ccriminal activity on BreachForums touched nearly ever sector of U.S. society.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad ad--inline_1 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Notable incidents cited by prosecutors in the sentencing recommendation memo included a leak in December 2022 of data pertaining to some 87,760 members of InfraGuard, records related to 200 million users of a U.S.-based social media company and 20 million user records for a company that controls background check services in January 2023, and the posting of <a href=\"https:\/\/fedscoop.com\/dc-health-exchange-breach-affects-former-national-security-officials-congress\/\">tens of thousands of <strong>users\u2019s <\/strong>private health insurance information<\/a>, including members of Congress, in March 2023.<\/p>\n<p>The sentencing recommendation memo also noted multiple instances in which Fitzpatrick served as a middle man for transactions involving stolen data and, in at least one case, advised a BreachForums member on how to monetize stolen data. In another instance, according to prosecutors, Fitzpatrick told a forum user that he would provide falsified information to law enforcement, but said he doubted that \u201claw enforcement would even bother making legal requests to a hacking forum lmao.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Although inactive for a period of several months, <a href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/breachforums-return-criminal-hackers\/\">BreachForums was resurrected<\/a> in June 2023 by a former administrator who worked under Fitzpatrick, and the site quickly reestablished itself as a top English-language cybercrime marketplace. That version of the site remains active.<\/p>\n<p><\/body> <\/p>\n<footer class=\"single-article__footer\" readability=\"1.0523255813953\">\n<div class=\"author-card\" readability=\"8\">\n<div class=\"author-card__avatar\">\n<figure class=\"author-card__image-wrap\"> <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"author-card__image\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/jailed-breachforums-creator-admin-sentenced-to-20-years-of-supervised-release-2.jpg?w=640&ssl=1\" alt=\"AJ Vicens\"> <\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><h4 class=\"author-card__name\">Written by AJ Vicens<\/h4>\n<p> AJ covers nation-state threats and cybercrime. He was previously a reporter at Mother Jones. Get in touch via Signal\/WhatsApp: (810-206-9411). <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"single-article__tags-container\">\n<h4 class=\"single-article__tags-title\">In This Story<\/h4>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/footer>\n<p> <\/html><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"single-article__ads js-single-article-sidebar\">\n<div class=\"ad ad--sidebar js-single-article-sidebar-5 ad--rightrail_1 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ad ad--sidebar js-single-article-sidebar-4 ad--rightrail_2 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ad ad--sidebar js-single-article-sidebar-3 ad--rightrail_3 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"popular-stories popular-stories--single-post\">\n<div class=\"popular-stories__container\">\n<h2 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{"id":2394,"date":"2024-01-19T22:24:02","date_gmt":"2024-01-19T22:24:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/?p=78822"},"modified":"2024-01-19T22:24:02","modified_gmt":"2024-01-19T22:24:02","slug":"jailed-breachforums-creator-admin-sentenced-to-20-years-of-supervised-release","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/2024\/01\/19\/jailed-breachforums-creator-admin-sentenced-to-20-years-of-supervised-release\/","title":{"rendered":"Jailed BreachForums creator, admin sentenced to 20 years of supervised release"},"content":{"rendered":"