Man Behind LeakedSource Arrested – Charged with Selling 3 Billion Pieces of Stolen Records

Rafia Shaikh
hacker cia leakedsource russia hackers
The mask's off...

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has charged a Canadian man for trafficking in identity information, mischief to data, unauthorized use of a computer, and possession of property obtained by crime. The 27-year-old Jordan Evan Bloom of Thornhill, Ontario is behind the notorious LeakedSource.com that compiled public data breaches and sold access to this data, including passwords in cleartext.

Jordan Evan Bloom charged with running the hacked password service, Leakedsource.com

Almost exactly a year ago, we reported that the law enforcement officials had taken down the site that had gained quite some popularity for hosting and breaking some of the biggest data breaches, including Twitter, WeeblyAdultFriendFinder, and several other sites. While sites like HaveIBeenPwned host this data (without passwords) to help users confirm if their emails have been compromised and should they proceed to change their passwords, LeakedSource made all the data available for $2 a day, or $265 a year, offering easy access to criminals.

Related Story [Updated] Marriott Data Breach Exposes Personal Information of 500 Million Guests – Sheraton, St. Regis, Westin, Element Hotels, & Others Included
Jordan Evan Bloom | Image: RCMP

It was unclear at the time what exactly had happened and, more importantly, who was responsible for running the service. The RCMP has announced today (via Reuters) that they are charging Bloom for selling three billion pieces of stolen information, including emails, usernames and passwords. RCMP said that the FBI and the Dutch National Police helped its officers with the investigation, tracking down LeakedSource to Bloom.

The police started their investigation codenamed Project Adoration in 2016 after learning that LeakedSource was being hosted on servers located in Quebec. "This investigation is related to claims about a website operator alleged to have made hundreds of thousands of dollars selling personal information," the RCMP Cybercrime Investigative Team said. "The RCMP will continue to work diligently with our domestic and international law enforcement partners to prosecute online criminality."

"[Leakedsources.com] was a middle man between the dark web and the internet. A person would log into the site and with a fee, would be able to look through the site for any information about usernames or passwords to be able to get them."

In the past year since LeakedSource was taken down, several alternatives have appeared, including some free tools. Some are even offering aggregated, alphabetized, and searchable databases carrying all the details leaked in the massive data breaches of the past few years, making hundreds of thousands of dollars in the process.

Police said Bloom earned $247,000 for "trafficking identity information". He is expected to appear in court today.

Share this story

Deal of the Day

Comments