The hacking group ShinyHunters claims to have taken a large cache of sensitive data belonging to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, including records on employees and job applicants. Reuters reported it viewed a sample of the material from the attack, and 404 Media said a representative of ShinyHunters confirmed the group's involvement. The hackers also appear to have been behind an unauthorized takeover of the FBI website earlier in the week.
Speaking to 404 Media, a group spokesperson said ShinyHunters had hacked the FBI and held data on all of its employees and applicants. According to that account, the group gained entry through a zero day exploit in Oracle's PeopleSoft program and used it to reach Amazon Web Services' GovCloud servers. The attackers claim the total haul amounts to 2 to 3TB of information.
The FBI told Reuters it was aware of a cyber-criminal enterprise group claiming a compromise of the FBIJobs.gov portal and an alleged impact on FBI employee personally identifiable information. The agency said it is actively and aggressively investigating the matter. No confirmation of the full scope of the breach has come from the bureau.
The sample reviewed by the media reportedly included names, addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, social security numbers and emergency contact details for 5,000 FBI employees. The material may also contain information about work assignments for some agents. It could further include details on FBI units handling intelligence, security and counter-espionage work, among them operations focused on China and Russia.
ShinyHunters has a history of carrying out hacks for extortion, with past actions against targets including Ticketmaster and Rockstar Games. The representative who spoke with 404 Media said this operation against the FBI was not financially motivated. Instead, the group said it wants to pressure the agency into removing or amending an earlier statement about the hackers.
In a report from May, the FBI said the group exaggerated claims of access to sensitive or personal information in order to prompt payment from victims. The latest incident involves data tied to FBI employees and applicants in the United States, and the agency's inquiry is ongoing.
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