A well-known private hacking forum has recently become more inclusive, introducing a new platform to help newbie threat actors flourish and hone their expertise, research has found. The discovery is unique, as private hacker forums tend to be the exclusive province of elite cybercriminals.
Digital Shadows on Thursday published a report that takes a deep dive into CryptBB, an exclusive hacker forum that has been operational since 2017.
Initially, the site only accepted new members after a “rigorous application and interview process,” requiring that an applicant prove their skill and knowledge on a chosen area of expertise, “leaving no room for those who fail to meet the required standards,” researchers wrote.
However, the forum recently has taken steps “to be viewed as a platform for ‘all,'” by launching near the end of 2019 a designated space for what it called “newbies,” according to the report. These are hackers who failed the application process but still wanted to hone their skills and learn from not just one another, but also from more expert members of the forum.
“The real surprise was the identification of an application-only forum creating a dedicated subforum for failed applicants, or ‘newbies’, to converse, share insights, and learn from full-time members,” Alex Guirakhoo, threat research team lead at Digital Shadows, told Threatpost. “Historically, the only times we have seen exclusive (private) forums lower the parameters for entry are when they have allowed members willing to pay a set fee in order to bypass the application process (this was seen with the English-language forum KickAss and the Russian-language forum Exploit). The payment enabled the forum to gain more members but was also financially beneficial to the forum. In CryptBB’s case, they are using a dedicated subforum to share knowledge and help others for free. They might be doing this for site-traffic metrics, but the intent behind the scheme seems innocent enough and the forum likely feels it is a way to give back and help others to increase their skills/knowledge.”
Last month, CryptBB owners went a step further and also began to reach out on the dark web to try to recruit new hackers into the forum. Digital Shadows identified what is called a “subdread” dedicated to CryptBB on the dark web community forum Dread—which has a “far-reaching and loyal user base” — in early June, researchers noted.
“On this subdread, CryptBB proclaims itself to be an excellent forum for ‘newbie’ hackers, programmers, and carders eager to start on their journey while also remaining a private platform for ‘advanced’ members who can partake in quality discussions and share expertise,” researchers wrote.
Digital Shadows imagined a few reasons for this concerted effort to shift from a forum exclusive to expert hackers to one that is now inviting less experienced ones into the fold.
One could be to try to preserve and maintain some of the methods and strategies already used by more skilled hackers, researchers surmised. Historically, CryptBB has provided some dedicated services for members to offer, including RDP sales and “hackers for hire” services, they said. Earlier this year, the forum’s admin team also began offering penetration testing and bug-reporting services to marketplaces with an assurance of discretion and no “drama,” researchers reported.
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