The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is investigating a breach of its jobs website, fbijobs.gov, following claims by the hacking group ShinyHunters that they have stolen sensitive data on thousands of FBI employees. The FBI stated, "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 is currently determining the source of the breach and is collaborating with third-party providers to mitigate risks.
Reports from several news outlets, including Reuters, indicate that ShinyHunters claims to have obtained between two and three terabytes of data, which includes detailed information about various job assignments of bureau officials, including sensitive operations against foreign intelligence and drug cartels. ShinyHunters announced that it is holding the data hostage until the FBI retracts a previous statement made in May that characterized the group as "threat actors". The group has stated that it is attempting to prevent the personnel information from being widely disseminated.
In May, the FBI described ShinyHunters as a group that often harasses victims with claims of access to sensitive information to extort payments. The FBI has been targeted by hackers multiple times; in March, it reported investigating suspicious activities on an internal system containing sensitive information related to surveillance operations. The jobs portal remained offline as of Wednesday afternoon.