British national Kai West, aka IntelBroker, was charged in U.S. for a global hacking scheme that stole and sold data, causing millions in damages.
Kai West (25), a British national, has been charged in the U.S. for operating as ‘IntelBroker,’ running a global hacking scheme that stole and sold data, causing millions in damages.
The US DoJ unsealed charges against Kai West, who was arrested in France in February 2025. He’s held in pre-trial detention as the U.S. seeking extradition for cybercrimes.
“The United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, and the Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), Christopher G. Raia, announced the unsealing of a four-count criminal Indictment and Complaint charging KAI WEST, a/k/a “IntelBroker,” a/k/a “Kyle Northern,” with a years-long hacking scheme committed through the online identity “IntelBroker.”” reads the press release published by DoJ.
According to the indictment, despite claiming to be from Russia or Eastern Europe, ‘IntelBroker’ (Kai West) made key OPSEC errors. Investigators linked crypto payments to accounts tied to West and matched IPs used by both West and IntelBroker. YouTube activity also linked the two. Authorities believe West was a BreachForums admin, and French officials are pursuing other forum admins as well.
FBI official Christopher Raia defined Kai West a serial hacker behind a global data theft scheme causing over $25M in damages.
From 2023 to 2025, Kai West, aka “IntelBroker,” led “CyberN[——]” that breached over 40 organizations, stole sensitive data, and sold it on a forum known as “Forum-1. (likely BreachForums)” West offered stolen data for sale at least 41 times and distributed it freely or for credits about 117 times, seeking over $2M and causing over $25M in damages. He accepted Monero for payment and was even listed as Forum-1’s owner from Aug 2024 to January 2025. His targets included U.S. telecom and healthcare firms.
Kai West faces charges including computer intrusion and wire fraud, with potential sentences up to 20 years. The FBI, DOJ, and international partners aided in the investigation. The case is led by the Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit, with prosecution by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan B. Finkel. West is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
IntelBroker was considered a reputable threat actor, it was linked to the breaches of DC Health Link, Europol, Volvo Cars, AMD, Zscaler, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE).
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Pierluigi Paganini
(SecurityAffairs – hacking, cybercrime)
