In this interview we had the pleasure to interview STALINGRADSKIY (hxxps[:]//t[.]me/rootkalibt), the founder of the rootsploit forum (hxxps[:]//rootsploit[.]org/). Here is the full interview:

Origins and Motivation

1. What inspired you to create the Rootsploit forum?

I was inspired by other thematic forums, and I like free communication because there are rules in social networks and instant messengers that I don’t like.

2. When and how did the idea for the forum come about?

The idea of ​​the RootSploit project arose by accident, before that I had forums, I was looking for something new and wanted to create something similar to information security, share information with people and communicate and also help people.

3. What challenges did you face in setting up the forum initially?

There were no difficulties in creating, most of the difficulties arise with traffic and the competition is very strong, now there are a lot of forums thematic like mine, so you need to stand out with your uniqueness.

4. How has the forum evolved since its inception?

The forum is now developing every day, we constantly introduce something new that other forums do not have, technical updates happen once a month, some plugins need to be installed, in short, we make it so that it is more convenient for users.

5. Have you ever had any problems with the police? Has the forum ever been seized?

So far there hasn’t been anything except on the part of Roskomnadzor, this is a Russian departmental body that blocks domains. Roskomnadzor blocked one domain for us.

Purpose and Philosophy

6. What is the main goal of Rootsploit?

The goals and objectives of the forum are great and we are working carefully on them. A big part is to share information first and foremost and allow users to find what they were looking for on the forum.

7. How would you describe the community and its members?

RootSploit shadow forum and independent community.

8. Do you have any ethical boundaries or rules for the forum?

Yes, we have rules and some restrictions on the services.

9. How do you moderate discussions and ensure quality content?

I have an assistant in this, he tries to moderate the forum, the quality of the content most likely depends on the uniqueness, in most earnings schemes, articles, or utilities for pentesting or for social engineering, these are stealers, we try to check each of these for the functionality of the software or utilities so that everything works correctly and correctly in order to avoid fraud and hacking of users!

Relationship with Threat Actors

10. Has Rootsploit ever had interactions with known Threat Actors?

This has not happened yet and most likely will not happen, we are a dependent community.

11. Have you seen changes in the types of users joining the forum over time?

No, I didn’t notice that we are visited by a different group of people, from game developers, to developers of all kinds of stealers, crypto drainers, and also those who simply share articles.

12. Have law enforcement or cybersecurity firms ever reached out to you?

No, we haven’t, if they do, we will refuse such cooperation!

13. How do you handle members who engage in illegal activities?

I’m loyal to this.

Future and Challenges

14. What are your long-term plans for Rootsploit?

I think we will be there for a long time since a lot of work has been done and a lot of effort has been invested in this project RootSploit.

15. Are there any new features or initiatives you’re planning?

I don’t know yet, time will tell, as I said above, we are constantly updating, all sorts of plugins and something new, we are trying to be more like a social network than a forum, especially since XenForo has been doing just that lately.

16. How do you see the cybersecurity landscape evolving, and how will Rootsploit adapt?

Regarding cybersecurity, the forum is private, namely hidden from people who have not registered, so we filter people who joined us, and changing domains and servers also helps.

17. Do you see the forum playing a role in responsible disclosure or cybersecurity research?

No, I don’t think so, although I communicate with many investigators such as: Uncle Azim, Petr Levashov.