Key Takeaways
- ShinyHunters claims it compromised FBI data, including sensitive information on current and former employees and nearly everyone who applied for a bureau job.
- The group defaced FBIJobs.gov and gave the bureau one week to revise or remove parts of a May report that it says falsely accused the hackers of threatening victims and exaggerating claims to secure payments.
- The FBI says it is aggressively investigating whether the breach originated within its systems or through a third-party provider supporting the jobs site.
A hacker group has claimed to have stolen sensitive information belonging to nearly every person who has filed a job application with the FBI.
On Tuesday (September 22), the hackers, who go by ShinyHunters, posted a PSA on the bureau’s job page, directed at director Kash Patel and assistant director Brett Leatherman. The hack appears to be centered around "substantial false allegations" made about the group in a report published in May.
"For us to properly address and correct these unfounded allegations, we were compelled to adopt a forceful and assertive posture to ensure our response was fully acknowledged," the statement by ShinyHunters read. "This PSA today does just that."
Prior to the PSA, the FBI jobs page was defaced by ShinyHunters, with the following message: "All FBI data was compromised including sensitive PII/PHI on incumbent and former FBI employees and all applicant information. We have a lot more than what we claim here. Thank you for your attention to this matter."
The hackers later outlined their demands, revealing they were giving the FBI one week to "correct or simply REMOVE" specific sections of the report that contain false allegations, such as harassing victims with threatening phone calls or text messages and making real or exaggerated claims in an effort to receive payment.
The FBI responded with a statement by a spokeswoman for the bureau. "While the point of breach is still undetermined — whether a third-party or the F.B.I.'s enterprise — 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 statement read (via New York Times).
