Digital extortion group ShinyHunters has claimed it breached the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and stole data belonging to a large number of current and former bureau employees.
The FBI said it was investigating the claims. The agency “is aware of claims regarding unauthorised activity affecting FBIjobs.gov and is currently investigating,” it said.
Hackers Claim Data On FBI Agents Stolen
ShinyHunters said in a statement on its dark-web site and in an online conversation with Reuters that it targeted the FBI in response to an agency announcement in May 2026. The announcement had detailed the group’s methods and advised potential targets against paying hackers.
The group claimed it had obtained information “on almost ALL FBI Agents, and individuals who filed an application with the FBI for a job.”
As evidence, ShinyHunters provided what it described as a screenshot showing a vandalised FBI jobs website and information on about 5,000 agents, which it said represented only a sample of the overall data allegedly stolen.
FBI Jobs Site Faces Disruption
Reuters could not independently verify the authenticity of the screenshot. However, the FBI jobs website appeared to have experienced recent disruption. A notice on the site on Tuesday said that it and the FBI “Special Agent Applicant Portal” were “currently unavailable.”
The sample provided by the hackers appeared to contain FBI agents’ names, home addresses, Social Security numbers and assignments. In some cases, it also appeared to include the names of family members.
Reuters partially verified information in the sample by comparing details, including Social Security numbers, with credit bureau records and previously breached information held by dark-web intelligence company District 4 Labs.
In at least 10 cases, including that of FBI Director Kash Patel, Reuters found details that appeared to match. A person familiar with the matter also said some job descriptions in the data matched.
However, Reuters could not determine the source of the information or establish whether it had been taken from the FBI’s internal systems, as ShinyHunters claimed. Attempts to contact people whose details appeared in the sample were unsuccessful.
Former FBI Official Warns Of Risks
Cynthia Kaiser, a former FBI official, said breaches such as the one claimed by ShinyHunters were “incredibly harmful” because criminals could use the information to expose and pressure people investigating them.
Kaiser, now senior vice president at cybersecurity firm Halcyon, said information from an earlier leak dating to 2016 was still occasionally being used to harass FBI agents.
“Once that information is stolen, it is used forever,” she said.
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ShinyHunters’ Recent Cyberattacks
ShinyHunters is a notorious hacking group that has claimed responsibility for several recent cyberattacks.
Its recent breaches include the purported theft of millions of business records from Rockstar Games, the video game developer behind Grand Theft Auto. The group was also linked to a May intrusion involving education platform Canvas that caused widespread disruption at US schools.
Earlier in September, artificial intelligence company Anthropic said it had detected hackers linked to ShinyHunters attempting to use its tools.
On Sunday, ShinyHunters told Reuters that it had “gone to war” with another cybercrime group, cl0p, amid a public dispute between the two groups.
