According to Infosecurity Magazine, the FBI has seized control of the RAMP dark web forum in a coordinated action with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida and the Justice Department’s CCIPS. The forum, created in 2021 by individuals linked to the defunct Babuk ransomware group, became the primary underground marketplace for ransomware discussion after other major forums like XSS, Exploit, and BreachForums banned the topic. A key operator, known as ‘Stallman,’ was the administrator at the time of the takedown, and another figure, Russian national Mikhail Matveev (aka Wazawaka), was arrested in Russia in 2024. Following the seizure on January 28, Stallman publicly stated the action “destroyed years of my work” and confirmed there were no plans to rebuild the forum. The seizure notice taunts operators with the message “The Only Place Ransomware Allowed!” and has driven significant, concerned chatter within cybercrime communities, reflecting a major loss of confidence.
RAMP Was a Controlled Marketplace
Here’s the thing about RAMP: it wasn’t just another chaotic cybercrime forum. According to intelligence experts cited in the report, it was created by people closely affiliated with Russian security services as a direct response to the chaos of the ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) boom. Before 2020, Russian and allied services had pretty good visibility into big, organized groups like Conti and REvil. Part of that control came from having security-affiliated admins on the main forums, Exploit and XSS.
But then RaaS exploded. The affiliate model meant anyone could get in the game, and the old forum admins lost control. RAMP was the answer. It was designed to be a prime hub where new and mid-tier ransomware groups could promote themselves, but in a space where they could be monitored. Basically, it centralized the noise. As one expert put it, one of the first things a new group did was post on RAMP—effectively identifying themselves to the authorities. It created a high-trust escrow environment and became the main discussion hub for operators, affiliates, and the whole supply chain of access brokers and malware sellers.
Why This Takedown Hurts
So this seizure isn’t just a symbolic win. It’s a serious operational disruption. For years, RAMP was where the business got done. Major groups like LockBit, ALPHV/BlackCat, and the now-infamous Conti all operated there. It was the go-to place for establishing reputation and trust, which is the absolute currency in that world. When that central meeting point vanishes, it doesn’t just disappear. It creates a vacuum filled with paranoia and friction.
New groups now have no clear, trusted stage to announce themselves. Affiliates and core operators lose a key communication channel. Deals get harder to broker without a trusted escrow. The public despair from admin Stallman—that his years of work are destroyed—echoes the wider uncertainty now rippling through these communities. It fractures the ecosystem, at least temporarily. And in cybersecurity, creating temporary chaos and raising costs for adversaries is a huge win.
The Bigger Picture of Disruption
Look, forums get taken down all the time. But they often pop back up, or activity migrates. The key question is whether this represents a deeper compromise. The FBI doesn’t just seize a site’s domain; they likely infiltrated it, gathered intelligence, and now control its infrastructure. That means they potentially have years of private messages, user databases, and transaction records. That intelligence could fuel arrests and disruptions for years to come, far beyond the forum itself.
It also continues a clear trend of targeting the enablers and infrastructure of cybercrime, not just the malware itself. Disrupting the marketplace is sometimes more effective than chasing every individual hacker. This action, combined with the arrest of a key figure like Matveev, shows a multi-pronged pressure campaign. For network defenders, any disruption to the ransomware supply chain is good news. It means potential delays in new campaigns and more scrambling among threat actors. As noted in analysis from Flare, RAMP was a cornerstone of trust in that ecosystem. Removing that cornerstone makes the whole structure shakier.
