Darkode is or rather better was a hacking forum used by Lizard Squad and other cyber criminals. The forum was closed today after coordinated actions by the FBI and law enforcement authorities from 20 countries.
So far, twenty-eight people have been arrested.
Darkode members allegedly used the site to trade and distribute hacking tools and information. There were details of zero-day attacks and tampering techniques that were unknown to the forum.
In order to be a member of the forum, another member should be recommended. Before joining, however, he had to publish his CV with the abilities and achievements he could offer to the community, as the BBC says.
"There was a hierarchical structure of members, and the status of the users determined who could communicate with each other and their access to the goods and services offered."
"Most of the cybercrime forums are in Russian or some other non-English language, but this was an English forum," security researcher Brian Krebs told the BBC.
"It was a kind of meeting place for cybercriminals of different nationalities and languages."
“A fairly significant number of people were selling services botnet and there were also services for installing malware and phishing.”
He added that members of the Lizard Squad - a group that has carried out high-profile attacks on Sony, Microsoft and other companies - also took part in the forum.
"The guy who was the forum administrator used the nickname Sp3c," Krebs said.
"He was a leading member of the Lizard Squad. "The interesting thing is that you will not see his name on the lists of those who have been arrested or are suspected of joining the group."
The FBI reported that Operation Shrouded Horizon βρήκε ότι 300 άτομα είχαν χρησιμοποιήσει το forum, οι οποίοι είναι από: Αυστραλία, Βοσνία, Βραζιλία, Ισραήλ, Κολομβία και Νιγηρία. Η Αμερικάνικη service said efforts to identify other suspects are still "ongoing."