ShinyHunters Claims Breach of FBI Jobs Site, Alleges Theft of Agent Data

The FBI is investigating a breach of its own systems after the cybercrime group ShinyHunters claimed responsibility for defacing the FBI jobs website on Monday. The group says it stole highly sensitive data on almost all FBI agents and individuals who applied for jobs with the agency. The FBI has confirmed it is aware of the claims and investigating, and parts of the FBI jobs portal, including the Special Agent Application Portal, are currently unavailable.

ShinyHunters is a well known extortion group that has previously targeted major cloud platforms, healthcare providers, universities, technology firms and retailers, including Instructure, Salesforce, Snowflake and McKesson. According to reporting, the group says this attack was retaliation for a public FBI notice issued after its earlier breach of Instructure, the company behind the Canvas education platform. ShinyHunters disputes claims made in that notice and denies affiliation with other cybercriminal networks or the use of extortion tactics involving compromising images.

Security researchers note that while ShinyHunters has at times exaggerated the impact of its attacks, the group has repeatedly demonstrated it can breach high profile organisations, and this incident marks a significant escalation given the target.