Helpnetsecurity FBI Seizes Virtualine Domain for Criminal Hosting and Money Laundering
Article Content
- •The FBI seized the domain of Virtualine, a bulletproof hosting provider, on October 27, 2026.
- •Virtualine hosted criminal activities including money laundering and child sexual abuse material despite law enforcement warnings.
- •The operation involved multiple international law enforcement agencies and private sector partners.
On October 27, 2026, the FBI, in collaboration with international law enforcement and private sector partners, seized the domain virtualine.net, associated with the bulletproof hosting provider Virtualine. The service allegedly facilitated a wide range of cybercrimes, including money laundering and hosting child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Virtualine, which operated under various aliases, openly advertised its services on cybercrime forums, claiming to support illegal activities except for child content and terrorism. Despite warnings from law enforcement, it continued to host a forum known as Vendor 1, which dealt in explicit images and hacking services. The seizure is part of a broader crackdown on bulletproof hosting providers linked to organized crime. Virtualine accepted payments through unhosted bitcoin addresses, complicating traceability. The investigation involved agencies from Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK, alongside private sector contributors like Chainalysis and OverRIPE.
Ask AI about this cluster
Answers cite the sources they use
Timeline
More articles in this cluster (11)
Following this threat?
Track BianLian and Ncmec in your own feed — you're alerted when they show up in new reporting, leak sites or exploitation.
Free account · no card needed
Common questions
What specific crimes did Virtualine facilitate?
Who was involved in the investigation?
What happens to the seized domain now?
Continue Reading
China-linked Hackers Exploit PHP2Shell to Compromise 25 Firewalls A China-linked threat actor has exploited vulnerabilities in PHP2Shell (CVE-2026-109618, CVE-2026-109619) and the Fragnesia privilege escalation bug (CVE-2026-46300) to gain root access to 25 firewalls, including those in an U.S. The attackers identified vulnerable systems using the FOFA search engine and executed… 
Brotli Decoder Vulnerability Patched Across Multiple Linux Distributions A vulnerability, CVE-2026-111497, affecting the Brotli decoder has been patched in various Linux distributions, including Fedora 44 and Oracle Linux 10. The flaw allows for an out-of-bounds write, which could potentially enable attackers to execute arbitrary code. The vulnerability was published on October 22, 2026…