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The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating a breach of its jobs website after a hacking group claimed to have obtained sensitive information on thousands of current and former employees, according to Al Jazeera, citing the FBI, Reuters and The Associated Press.
“The FBI is aware of a cybercriminal enterprise group claiming a compromise of the fbijobs.gov portal and alleged impact to FBI employee personally identifiable information,” the agency said in a statement on Wednesday.
The FBI said the source of the breach had not yet been determined, including whether it involved a third-party provider or the agency’s own systems. It added that it was working with providers supporting the jobs portal to reduce potential risks.
Hackers claim access to information on FBI personnel
Several news organisations, including Reuters, said they had reviewed parts of the alleged data. ShinyHunters claimed the material formed part of a larger cache ranging from two to three terabytes.
The reported information includes detailed data on the work assignments of dozens of FBI officials, including activities involving Chinese espionage, Russian intelligence and drug cartels, Reuters reported.
ShinyHunters said on Tuesday that it had breached the FBI and stolen data belonging to a large number of current and former employees. The group reportedly said it was holding the information hostage until the bureau withdrew a critical statement issued about it in May.
On Wednesday, the group said it was attempting to prevent the personnel information from being circulated widely.
FBI had previously warned about the group
In its May statement, the FBI described ShinyHunters as “threat actors” that often harass or threaten victims and use real or exaggerated claims of access to sensitive or personal information to seek payment.
The agency also warned that the group could falsely claim to possess sensitive or compromising material, including embarrassing photographs or videos that may not exist.
The FBI has been targeted in previous cyber incidents. In March, the agency said it was investigating “suspicious activities” on an internal system containing sensitive information related to surveillance operations and investigations.
That same month, a pro-Iranian hacking group claimed to have accessed an account belonging to FBI Director Kash Patel and posted what appeared to be old photographs, a work résumé and other personal documents dating back more than a decade.
The FBI jobs portal remained offline on Wednesday afternoon.
