Guilt admitted by Kosovo hacker over BlackDB cyber market operations

BleepingComputer reports that Kosovo man Liridon Masurica has entered a guilty plea admitting his role in leading the BlackDB.cc cybercrime marketplace from 2018 to 2025.

Masurica could be imprisoned for up to 55 years if convicted on five counts of fraudulent use of unauthorized access devices and a count of conspiracy to commit access device fraud.

Under Masurica's leadership, BlackDB.cc peddled compromised server credentials and accounts, as well as pilfered personally identifiable information and credit card details mostly from U.S.-based individuals, with the stolen data harnessed by cybercriminals to facilitate identity theft attacks, as well as tax and credit card fraud, according to the Justice Department.

Such a development comes months after Russian-language cybercrime forum XSS had its alleged administrator apprehended by Ukrainian authorities at the behest of France, which had detained BreachForums hacking marketplace leaders. Fellow cybercrime market Rydox was also sequestered in a joint law enforcement effort in December, which also resulted in the arrest of its admins.