ShinyHunters hackers say they breached FBI, stole data on bureau employees

On Tuesday, the hacking organization ShinyHunters disclosed that it had infiltrated the Federal Bureau of Investigation and pilfered sensitive data on a substantial number of current and former FBI personnel. The bureau declined to comment on the matter. In a statement posted on its underground website and during a live chat with Reuters, ShinyHunters claimed that their attack was a direct response to the FBI's May 2026 announcement, which outlined the group's tactics and cautioned targets against making payments.

The hackers disclosed that they had obtained data on nearly all FBI agents and individuals who applied for employment with the bureau. To substantiate their claim, ShinyHunters presented a screenshot of a defaced FBI job site and a sample of the stolen data. However, Reuters could not verify the authenticity of the screenshot. Despite this, Reuters managed to partially corroborate the credibility of certain stolen FBI personnel details by cross-referencing them with credit bureau records and archived data from another dark-web intelligence firm, District 4 Labs.

In nine instances, the information matched. Nevertheless, the agency was unable to determine the origin of the data or confirm if it had been extracted from the FBI's internal systems, as the hackers asserted. Reuters was unable to contact individuals whose details were included in the sample data. ShinyHunters is notorious for its high-profile cyberattacks, which have targeted notable entities such as video game developer Rockstar Games and education platform Canvas. Recently, the group engaged in a public feud with another cybercrime group, cl0p.