The world’s two largest cybercrime forums, “Cracked.io” and “Nulled.io”, were taken down at the end of January 2025. The law enforcement operation that was led by German authorities and supported by Europol involved eight countries from Europe, the United States, and Australia.

The two sites worked as one-stop shops and were used not only to discuss cybercrime but also to serve as marketplaces for illegal goods and cybercrime-as-a-service, such as stolen data, malware, or hacking tools. They also offered AI-based tools and scripts to automatically scan for security vulnerabilities and optimise attacks. It is estimated that the suspects made €1 million in criminal profits.

As a result of the action days, two suspects were arrested; seven properties searched; and 17 servers, over 50 electronic devices, and around €300,000 in cash and cryptocurrencies seized.