British National Charged in $25M Cybercrime Operation Involving Data Breaches

U.S. federal prosecutors have indicted Kai West, a 25-year-old British national operating under the alias "IntelBroker," for orchestrating a global cybercrime ring that infiltrated corporate networks to steal sensitive data. The breaches resulted in over $25 million in damages, with West allegedly aiming to profit $2.4 million from the sale of stolen information.

West, arrested in France in February 2025, ran the dark web forum BreachForums from August 2024 to January 2025. Authorities accuse him of selling or offering data more than 150 times between 2023 and 2025, sometimes in exchange for forum credits. While IntelBroker has claimed responsibility for high-profile attacks on companies like AMD and Cisco, these were not cited in the formal charges.

The case highlights escalating risks in corporate cybersecurity, particularly for firms handling large-scale customer or proprietary data. No direct cryptocurrency links were identified in the indictment, but the dark web's historical ties to crypto transactions underscore the need for enhanced blockchain surveillance in such investigations.