KickAss Forum Goes Offline Amid Unconfirmed Takedown and Phishing Concerns
Summary
KickAss’s recent Tor addresses went offline after the forum switched to private access. DarkOwl notes an unfamiliar Jabber contact and a move to OTR, raising—but not confirming—the possibility of a law-enforcement seizure or phishing attempt.
Key points
- DarkOwl reported that KickAss’s two most recent onion v3 addresses were down, but neither displayed a law-enforcement seizure banner.
- The forum had announced new v3 addresses on January 7, then changed its login page to private and directed members to contact a Jabber account using OTR.
- DarkOwl said the Jabber account did not match contacts previously mentioned by moderators; an older announcement said staff used OMEMO rather than OTR.
- The article suggests the changes could indicate a law-enforcement takeover or an attempt to phish members, but provides no confirmation of either.
- DarkOwl said it would continue monitoring the story.
Article Details
- Event Type
- Reported law-enforcement takedown of the KickAss Forum; the article also alleges a possible phishing attempt impersonating forum moderators.
- Impact
- KickAss went offline, and members were instructed to contact a Jabber account for continued access shortly before the disappearance. DarkOwl considered the account suspicious because it did not match previously mentioned moderator accounts and used OTR despite a prior forum statement that staff used OMEMO. The article presents the seizure and phishing explanations as likely, not confirmed.
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Products
DarkOwl VisionScreenshots from DarkOwl Vision from January 2019, listing new KickAss URLs.KickAss ForumOn January 9, the KickAss Forum went offline.TorOn January 7, KickAss moderators started the thread, “KICKASS TOR VERSION 3 URLS”, announcing deactivation of the old v2 hidden service addresses and new v3 URLs would be circulating “for security reasons” – perhaps due