FBI seizes RAMP cybercrime forum used by ransomware gangs

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"Years of hard work" ruined, an operator cries

Conceptual art of a computer system being hacked.
Due hacker ci hanno mostrato quanto sia semplice attaccare le infrastrutture critiche (Image credit: Getty Images)
  • FBI seized RAMP cybercrime forum domains on clearnet and Tor
  • Operator confirmed forum loss, calling it destruction of years of work
  • Seizure likely exposed user data, risking identification and prosecution of cybercriminals

Infamous underground hacking forum RAMP, used to advertise different malware and hacking services, including ransomware, has been seized by the FBI.

One of the organization's operators confirmed the news in a different forum, saying the law enforcement operation destroyed years of hard work. It operated two domains, one on clearnet, and one on the Tor network - both of which were seized.

The clearnet version was defaced and now displays the usual FBI banner: "The Federal Bureau of Investigation has seized RAMP."

FBI stays silent

"This action has been taken in coordination with the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida and the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section of the Department of Justice," the banner reads.

At press time, the clearnet website was not accessible at all, and returned an error, instead.

On XSS, a separate hacking forum, a user alias “Stallman”, who claims to have been one of RAMP’s operators, confirmed that access to the forum was lost:

"I regret to inform you that law enforcement has seized control of the Ramp forum," they said. "This event has destroyed years of my work building the freest forum in the world, and while I hoped this day would never come, I always knew in my heart it was possible. It's a risk we all take.”

At press time, there was no official confirmation from the FBI, but the domain name servers were switched to ones used by the FBI in such cases, BleepingComputer further found. That means the police most likely has access to a treasure trove of RAMP user data, including email addresses, IP addresses, private messages, and more.

Cybercriminals who weren’t careful and did not take precautions to hide their identity on the platform could now be identified and even prosecuted.

RAMP was launched in 2021, when other hacking forums, XSS and Exploit, banned the hosting and promotion of ransomware.

Via BleepingComputer

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Sead Fadilpašić

Sead is a seasoned freelance journalist based in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He writes about IT (cloud, IoT, 5G, VPN) and cybersecurity (ransomware, data breaches, laws and regulations). In his career, spanning more than a decade, he’s written for numerous media outlets, including Al Jazeera Balkans. He’s also held several modules on content writing for Represent Communications.

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