FBI investigates apparent breach of its jobs website. Hackers claim to have sensitive employee data

FBI is investigating an apparent breach of its jobs website after the hacking group ShinyHunters claimed to have accessed sensitive data concerning FBI agents and job applicants. The bureau confirmed it is looking into the allegations. “The FBI is alert of claims regarding unauthorized enactment affecting FBIjobs.gov and is presently investigating,” the bureau said in a statement. The site, which serves as the main portal for prospective employees to learn about the FBI and begin the application process, remained offline Wednesday morning. A message circulating online from ShinyHunters asserted responsibility for the intrusion. The note, addressed to FBI Director Kash Patel and the assistant manager in charge of the FBI’s cyber division, stated the group had “compromised precise delicate information connected astir ALL FBI Agents and individuals who filed an exertion with the FBI for a job.” The claims could not be immediately verified, and an FBI spokesperson declined to comment further. An email to an address associated with the group was not returned. In its communication, ShinyHunters gave the bureau one week to remove what it describes as false allegations from an FBI national work announcement issued in May. That announcement characterized the group as a “cyber transgression radical specializing in large-scale information breaches and extortion.” The same announcement also labeled ShinyHunters as “threat actors” who often “use their existent or exaggerated claims of entry to delicate or idiosyncratic accusation to punctual outgo from victims,” commonly harass or endanger victims and “may falsely assertion to person delicate or compromising information, including embarrassing photographs or videos of victims, which often bash not exist.” ShinyHunters said it was “offended” by those characterizations and demanded the FBI retract them. The FBI has frequently been a target of hackers. In March, the bureau disclosed it was investigating “suspicious activities” on an internal system that holds sensitive information related to surveillance operations and investigations. Also that month, a pro‑Iranian hacking group claimed to have compromised an account belonging to Patel and posted what appeared to be years‑old photographs of him, along with a résumé and other personal documents dating back more than a decade.