Hacking Forum Hell Returns Six Months After Adult Friend Finder Hack, But Users Fear It's A Honeypot

Hell has returned. The notorious dark net hacking forum known for publishing personal records of millions of people who used Adult Friend Finder has been resurrected under new management more than six months after its demise.

Hell is best remembered as the shady forum for cybercriminals where one hacker dumped the details and sexual preferences of nearly 4 million users on Adult Friend Finder, an adult dating site. Attention around the hack prompted Adult Friend Finder to admit a breach had occurred, and the founder of Hell, known only as Ping, to abandon the site. Now an old administrator named HA has brought the site back to life, SC Magazine reported Tuesday.

It's not clear when the site returned online, but Motherboard pegged the return at just more than a week ago based on an “extremely low number” of postings. There isn't yet any indication that law enforcement or the U.S. National Security Agency has infiltrated the site, though at least one user has speculated the new site is in fact set up as a sting operation meant to gather information or nab hacking suspects.

“Don't worry about anything regarding LE, NSA and others,” HA said in one post, as quoted by Motherboard. “If you suspect anyone to be LE please let us know so we can take proper action against them, since this is not a place for them.”

Hell's return recalls the situation around Dark0de, the black market Europol site once described as “the most prolific English-speaking cybercriminal forum to date.” The site, home to Lizard Squad and other known criminal groups, was shut down as part of a massive police effort. Dark0de returned only weeks later, though, when vetted members resumed trading in credit card numbers and various strains of malicious software.

Both Hell and Dark0de are only accessible with the anonymity browser Tor.