Darkode hacking forum forced offline

Darkode - a notorious hacking forum used by Lizard Squad and other cybercriminals - has been shut down after an investigation carried out by authorities in 20 countries.

"We have dismantled a cyber-hornets' nest... which was believed by many, including the hackers themselves, to be impenetrable," said one of the US state attorneys involved.

Twenty-eight people have been arrested.

They include a 26-year-old man from Coventry, England.

In addition, the UK's National Crime Agency said an address in Paisley, Scotland, had been searched and material removed for examination. It said that five other suspected members of the site had previously been arrested.

The FBI added that dozens of other people linked to the site had been charged or had their property searched as part of the inquiry.

Restricted access

Darkode's members allegedly used the site to trade and to share hacking tools and information, including details of zero-day attacks - techniques that exploited flaws in products that neither their creators nor the wider security industry were aware of, and thus could not be protected against.

This information was password-protected.

"Only those proposed for membership by an existing user could join, but not until they posted a resume of the skills and achievements that could contribute to the criminal community," explained the NCA.

"There was a hierarchical membership structure, and the status of users determined who they could communicate with, and their access to the commodities and services on offer."

Although the site was not accessible to the general public, it was profiled extensively by the security blogger Brian Krebs, who posted several screenshots on his site.