Suspected XSS Forum Admin Arrested in Ukraine Infosecurity Magazine

pReporter Infosecurity MagazineppA man suspected of administering the Russianlanguage cybercrime forum XSS was arrested in Ukraine on July 22ppIn an official statement on July 23 Laure Beccuau a French State Prosecutor said that the individual was taken into custody by the Ukrainian authorities with the collaboration of the French police and EuropolppThis arrest is the result of a fouryear long investigation which began on July 2 2021 by the Paris Police Prefectures Cybercrime UnitppAs part of the investigation French police intercepted recordings on the Jabber thesecurebiz server which accompanied the XSS forum to facilitate anonymous exchanges between cybercriminalsppThese interceptions revealed that the arrested individual was allegedly linked to numerous illicit cybercrime and ransomware activities and established that they had generated at least 7m in profitppA judicial investigation was opened on November 9 2021 on charges of complicity in attacks on an automated data processing system extortion in an organized gang and criminal associationppIn September 2024 the case moved into the operational phase in Ukraine where French police investigators were deployed on the ground supported by Europol through the establishment of a virtual command post It was followed by another action that started on July 21 2025 which saw the arrest of the main suspect in KyivppA Europol mobile office was deployed to support French and Ukrainian teams with onsite coordination and evidence collectionppAccording to another statement published by Europol on July 23 the forums suspected administrator was not only a technical operator but is believed to have played a central role in enabling criminal activityppActing as a trusted third party he arbitrated disputes between criminals and guaranteed the security of transactions the Europol statement notedppBeccuaus statement also showed that the involved Ukrainian and French law enforcement agencies have seized the XSS domains although the site appears to still be up at the time of writing The seized data will now be analysed to support ongoing investigations across Europe and beyondppXSS A Major Dark Web Forum for Cybercrime ActivitiesppActive since 2013 XSS had more than 50 000 registered users It was one of the leading forums within the Russianlanguage cybercrime landscape for discussions around cyberattacks and malware developmentppXSS allowed the sale of malware access to compromised systems stolen data and ransomwarerelated services Beccaua notedppAccording to Oleg Lykpo a cyber threat intelligence analyst at Flare and expert on the Russian cybercrime landscape XSS and Exploit another infamous criminal forum are the backbone of the highlevel Russianspeaking cybercriminal ecosystemppThe Ukrainian agencies involved in the arrest included the states Cyber Department the Security Service of Ukraine and the General Prosecutors Office of UkraineppInfosecurity reached out to the Paris Police Prefecture which declined to provide further details on the case at this timep