The FBI said it is investigating a reported breach of its systems by a notorious cybercriminal group that claimed Tuesday to have stolen a trove of “very sensitive” data on the bureau’s personnel.
The group — a digital extortion collective known as ShinyHunters — posted an online message claiming it had breached the FBI’s online jobs portal and stolen information “on almost ALL FBI Agents, and individuals who filed an application with the FBI for a job.”
The bureau’s jobs website remained offline Wednesday morning.
The FBI said in a statement Wednesday it was “aware” of the claimed hack but said the “point of the breach is still undetermined.” Investigators were working to identify whether the hackers had compromised a third-party system used to administer the jobsite or breached actual FBI systems.
“We are actively and aggressively investigating this matter and working closely with those third-party providers that support FBIJobs.gov to mitigate any and all risk,” the bureau said.
Officials sent agents a memo Tuesday outlining the claims of the alleged breach and urged personnel to take steps to safeguard their personal information, according to three people familiar with that message who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the internal communication.
The hack — which was first reported by the online news site 404 Media — would represent a significant security failure by a government agency charged with investigating cyberthreats.
If the hacking group’s claims are borne out, agents fear it may have exposed the FBI’s roughly 37,000-member workforce to potential threats by revealing personal details such as home addresses, phone numbers and dates of birth to foreign intelligence services and criminal groups.
As proof of its breach, ShinyHunters allegedly provided 404 Media with a sample of the stolen data that appeared to include such identifying information on some 5,000 FBI employees.
The news organization said it confirmed that some of that data corresponded to known agents by running the information through public databases and previous leaks that exposed information on some FBI personnel.
In its online statement Tuesday, which was addressed to FBI Director Kash Patel and the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s cyber division, ShinyHunters said the hack was in retaliation for the FBI issuing a public advisory in May identifying the group as a threat.
The advisory accused it of targeting “major companies across tech, finance and retail, often stealing millions of customers records at once.” It was released after the bureau determined the organization was behind a hack of the online learning system Canvas, which temporarily disrupted the service for thousands of schools and universities nationwide.
“Threat actors often use their real or exaggerated claims of access to sensitive or personal information to prompt payments from victims,” the advisory read.
ShinyHunters, in its post Tuesday, maintained that its FBI hack was not financially motivated.
“We have been severely offended,” the message read. The group said it would give the FBI one week to amend or remove its advisory but did not specify what action it was threatening to take should the bureau refuse to do so.
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