On December 2nd, Leakbase.pw, a data breach index website announced it has closed down the service effective immediately. In a tweet, the website said: “This project has been discontinued, thank you for your support over the past year and a half.”
In another tweet, the website vowed to compensate their users: “We understand many of you may have lost some time, so in an effort to offer compensation, please email. Send your LeakBase username and how much time you had left. We will have a high influx of emails so be patient; this could take a while,” the tweet said.
Leakbase started its operation in September 2016 allowing users to buy a membership and search queries on different databases including Dropbox, MySpace, Li
Leakbase is now the second data breach indexing platform to suddenly quit its operation, previously LeakedSource was shut down after being raided by law enforcement authorities. As far as Leakbase is concerned, the reason for its shut down is still unclear, however, according to Brain Kreb of KrebsOnSecurity the shut down is a result of raid linked to the raid on Hansa dark web market by Dutch police back in July 2017.
An anonymous source also told Krebs that after getting hacked in April 2017 the original owners sold the website to someone who was allegedly connected to drug deals on Hansa Dark Web marketplace. Using the information acquired from Hansa, Dutch police tracked and apprehended one of the Leakbase owners.
Hansa is now under the control of the Dutch police who randomly shares a list of identified, active, and arrested Hansa vendors and buyers. Another Dark Web marketplace that was shut down and taken over by authorities is AlphaBay whose alleged owner committed suicide in a Thai prison in July this year.
At the time of publishing this article, the Leakbase website was being redirected to HaveIbeenPwned, another but legal data breach index and alert platform founded by Troy Hunt, an Australian security researcher.
Update: 1:17 PM Tuesday, December 5, 2017, Eastern Time (ET)
Leakbase has replied to rumors linking its shut down to the bust that took down Hansa marketplace. According to tweets sent out by Leakbase, the platform has shown “disappointment” over allegations that its shut down had anything to do with Hansa.
“The fact that we need to tweet this is disappointing in its self, none of the LeakBase operators have any connections to Hansa. The fact that this can be portrayed as near fact is astonishing as it is only a claim,” said the tweet.
“If claims as simple as that hold such weight, than our claim, as stated above should hold equal if not much more power,” said another tweet on December 4th.