Infamous online compromised server marketplace xDedic pulled down by authorities

• Authorities from the US and Europe have seized the online forum xDedic.
• xDedic was a trading platform where cybercriminals used to buy or sell a variety of illicit products such as hacked servers, hacking tools, and more.

xDedic, the shady marketplace that offered various hacking tools and other malicious products, was taken down earlier by authorities. The forum was responsible for fraudulent transactions totaling more than $68 million along with stealing information from victims.

Authorities from the US, Belgium and the European law enforcement agency Europol collaborated together to bring down xDedic. From the US, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Internal Revenue Services (IRS) led the hunt, while from Europe, it was led by the federal prosecutors from Belgium, Ukraine, and Germany.

“The victims span the globe and all industries, including local, state, and federal government infrastructure, hospitals, 911, and emergency services, call centers, major metropolitan transit authorities, accounting, and law firms, pension funds, and universities,” told the US Attorney’s office of Florida that investigated xDedic.

“Several IT systems were confiscated and three Ukrainian suspects were questioned. The house searches are related to two criminal investigations into the illegal online marketplace called xDedic,” said the federal prosecutor’s office from Belgium.

Beyond Compromised Servers

Back in 2016, xDedic was believed to have over 70,000 hacked servers with the numbers growing significantly in the subsequent years. Apart from this, it also sold hacking tools such as proxy installers and sysinfo collectors.

Kaspersky Lab, which tracked xDedic in 2016, said in a report that the online marketplace sold almost any server from governments as well as of companies.

Furthermore, servers in xDedic were relatively inexpensive with prices as low as $6 per server. Other tools were also sold below the $8 range.