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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has shut down a "major computer hacking forum" [reuters.com] called Darkode. The Darkode site now displays a banner [npr.org] with a message from the FBI, Department of Justice, and many foreign police agencies.

U.S. authorities working with law enforcement partners abroad have shut down the Darkode online forum used by cybercriminals around the world and charged 12 people linked to the site, the Justice Department said on Wednesday.

U.S. Attorney David Hickton announced the charges in Pittsburgh and called Darkode "a cyber hornet's nest of criminal hackers."

"Of the roughly 800 criminal Internet forums worldwide, Darkode represented one of the gravest threats to the integrity of data on computers in the United States," he said.

The Justice Department said the FBI and U.S. attorney's office in Pittsburgh led the investigation, known as Operation Shrouded Horizon. It included authorities from Europol and 20 countries in Europe and Latin America and included Israel, Nigeria and Australia.

12 individuals have been charged [justice.gov]:

• Johan Anders Gudmunds, aka Mafi aka Crim aka Synthet!c, 27, of Sollebrunn, Sweden.
• Morgan C. Culbertson, aka Android, 20, of Pittsburgh.
• Eric L. Crocker, aka Phastman, 39, of Binghamton, New York.
• Naveed Ahmed, aka Nav aka semaph0re, 27, of Tampa, Florida.
• Phillip R. Fleitz, aka Strife, 31, of Indianapolis.
• Dewayne Watts, aka m3t4lh34d aka metal, 28, of Hernando, Florida.
• Murtaza Saifuddin, aka rzor, 29, of Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan.
• Daniel Placek, aka Nocen aka Loki aka Juggernaut aka M1rr0r, 27, of Glendale, Wisconsin.
• Matjaz Skorjanc, aka iserdo aka serdo, 28, of Maribor, Slovenia.
• Florencio Carro Ruiz, aka NeTK aka Netkairo, 36, of Vizcaya, Spain.
• Mentor Leniqi, aka Iceman, 34, of Gurisnica, Slovenia.
• Rory Stephen Guidry, aka k@exploit.im, of Opelousas, Louisiana.

Original Submission