FBI hacked? Hacking group ShinyHunters claims to 'have compromised the FBI,' stolen 2–3TB data
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "FBI hacked? Hacking group ShinyHunters claims to 'have compromised the FBI,' stolen 2–3TB data")
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel (C) speaks at a news conference at the at the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice building on June 23, 2026 in Washington, DC. Photograph: (AFP)
ShinyHunters, a cybercriminal group, is claiming it breached FBI-related systems and stole a huge volume of data on bureau employees and job applicants. The FBI has confirmed an investigation into alleged unauthorised activity, but has not yet verified the hackers’ broader claims.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) data on its employees and job applicants has been compromised. A high-profile hacking group, ShinyHunters, claims to have breached multiple FBI-related services and stolen data "on all FBI employees and applicants". The group told 404 Media that the data includes FBI agents' names, home addresses, phone numbers, and information on their spouses.
The group claims it accessed between 2 and 3 terabytes of data tied to the FBI and the US Justice Department. In posts on the dark web and messages shared with several media outlets, the hackers said the stolen information included records concerning FBI agents as well as people who had applied for jobs with the bureau. In one post addressed to FBI director Kash Patel and FBI Cyber Division Assistant Director Brett Leatherman, the hacking group ShinyHunters in a post said: "We have compromised the FBI," reports CBS.
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Why it matters
The hack can have massive national security and counterintelligence ramifications.
On Tuesday, the FBI said it was aware of claims involving unauthorised activity affecting its recruitment website, FBIjobs.gov, and had launched an investigation.
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Shortly after on Tuesday, the home page for FBI careers had a "System Unavailable" message on the top of the page. The message further read that the job application and special agent applicant portal were unavailable.
A day later, the bureau issued a more detailed statement, saying it was looking into allegations that personally identifiable information belonging to FBI employees may have been affected.
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“The FBI is aware of a cyber-criminal enterprise group claiming a compromise of the FBIJobs.gov portal and alleged impact to FBI employee personally identifiable information (PII),” the agency said.
“While the point of breach is still undetermined, whether a third party or the FBI'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.”
