WASHINGTON: The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said on Wednesday it was investigating ShinyHunters’ claim of data theft involving current and former agents and job applicants in the United States.
ShinyHunters says it broke into FBIjobs.gov and obtained between two and three terabytes of files. It claims the records cover “almost all” agents and applicants.
The FBI said investigators had not established where the intrusion occurred. It could involve the bureau’s own systems or a provider supporting its recruitment website.
A sample shared by the hackers appeared to contain agents’ names, home addresses and Social Security numbers, Reuters reported. Records included assignments and some family details. Reuters could not determine where the data originated or whether the hackers took it from the FBI’s internal systems.
FBIjobs.gov and its Special Agent Applicant Portal were unavailable, according to a website notice Reuters reported on Tuesday.
ShinyHunters described the alleged attack as retaliation for an FBI warning published in May. In that advisory, the bureau characterised the group as a criminal operation specialising in large-scale data breaches and extortion.
Instead of seeking money, the hackers demanded changes to the warning. They gave the FBI one week to remove or amend the descriptions they disputed.
