Cybercriminal group claims it stole FBI personnel and applicant data

A notorious cybercriminal group known as ShinyHunters claims to have breached the FBI on Monday, stealing data on personnel and job applicants. The hackers, who targeted the FBI and Justice Department workers, allege they extracted 2 to 3 terabytes of sensitive information. The group used a new vulnerability in Oracle PeopleSoft, a human resources management program, to carry out the attack.

ShinyHunters posted two statements on the dark web, addressed to FBI Director Kash Patel and FBI Cyber Division Assistant Director Brett Leatherman. The hackers stated they had compromised the FBI, and possessed sensitive data on nearly all FBI agents and FBI job applicants. The FBI's careers website displayed a "System Unavailable" message, stating that Apply.fbijobs.gov and the Special Agent Applicant Portal were currently down.

FBI spokespersons confirmed they were aware of claims related to the unauthorized activity affecting FBIJobs.gov and were actively investigating the matter. The FBI has not officially confirmed the breach. The cybercriminal group has a history of large-scale data and cloud theft, and this is at least the third major cyber incident to impact the FBI or its employees so far this year.