The hacking group ShinyHunters says it penetrated FBI-related systems and obtained personal information on the bureau’s entire workforce and applicant pool, though independent reviews have only partially corroborated samples of the purportedly stolen data.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
ShinyHunters claimed Tuesday that it compromised FBI systems and obtained personal information belonging to all bureau employees and applicants, an assertion that has not been independently verified even as outside reviews found that portions of data supplied by the hacking group appeared to correspond with real people connected to the federal government.
The FBI did not immediately respond to a Newsmax request for comment about the claimed breach or the authenticity of the data.
The cybercriminal group said the intrusion occurred Monday night and subsequently provided a sample containing approximately 5,000 purported FBI-related records to 404 Media.
“We hacked the FBI. We hold data on all FBI employees and applicants,” a ShinyHunters representative told the outlet.
The sample appeared to contain personally identifiable information that included names, residential addresses, telephone numbers and dates of birth. Some records also contained information about spouses.
404 Media conducted limited checks of the material using OSINT Industries, an open-source intelligence tool. According to the outlet, several telephone numbers in the sample corresponded with individuals whose names matched those in the records. Searches through a separate compromised-data service also indicated that some numbers had previously been associated with Justice Department personnel.
Reuters separately attempted to validate portions of the information and found matches in at least nine cases after comparing names and postal addresses with credit bureau records and previously compromised information maintained by dark web intelligence company District 4 Labs.
That verification did not establish that the information originated from FBI systems. Reuters was unable to determine the source of the records or independently confirm ShinyHunters’ central assertion that the group had penetrated the bureau’s internal infrastructure.
The group has claimed substantially broader access than the samples reviewed by the news organizations. A ShinyHunters representative told 404 Media that hackers exploited a vulnerability involving Oracle PeopleSoft and used it to reach FBI-related systems, including AWS GovCloud infrastructure.
According to the representative, the operation produced between 2 and 3 terabytes of data.
No independent confirmation was provided establishing the volume of information obtained or verifying that AWS GovCloud or the other systems identified by the group were successfully compromised.
ShinyHunters also supplied Reuters with what it described as an image showing a vandalized FBI employment website, along with a sample of the information it said was stolen. Reuters said it could not authenticate the screenshot.
Two FBI recruitment portals were unavailable Tuesday. Newsmax found that Apply.fbijobs.gov and the bureau’s Special Agent Applicant Portal displayed notices stating, “Scheduled Maintenance Underway.”
Newsmax asked the FBI whether the maintenance was connected to the reported cyberattack. The bureau had not immediately provided an explanation linking the outages to the hackers’ claims.
ShinyHunters portrayed the alleged intrusion as retaliation for an FBI warning issued earlier this year about the organization.
In the May 15 agency warning, the FBI characterized ShinyHunters as a cybercriminal operation involved in “large-scale data breaches and extortion” and urged organizations targeted by the group not to engage with or pay its demands.
The FBI said ShinyHunters has employed aggressive tactics designed to pressure victims after obtaining or claiming to possess sensitive data.
Those methods have included threatening telephone calls and text messages directed at victims and, in some cases, their relatives. The bureau also said the group has used swatting, in which a false emergency report is made to law enforcement in an attempt to trigger an armed police response at a person’s home or another location.
ShinyHunters told Reuters through a statement on its dark web site and in an online conversation that the FBI’s May warning motivated its decision to target the agency.
The organization has previously been associated with schemes in which stolen information is used to pressure victims into paying to prevent its publication. In this case, however, a representative denied that money was the primary objective.
When 404 Media asked whether the group intended to extort the FBI, the representative replied, “What we plan to do is not something I’d call extortion, maybe coercion.”
“This is not financially motivated,” the representative said.
The extent of the alleged compromise remained unclear Tuesday. While portions of the sample data could be connected to people with apparent government ties, neither those checks nor the matching records established that ShinyHunters obtained the material directly from FBI systems.
The bureau had also not publicly confirmed that a breach occurred, leaving the group’s claims about possessing data on every FBI employee and applicant, penetrating government cloud infrastructure and removing several terabytes of information unverified.
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