ShinyHunters hackers claim to have stolen the data of thousands of FBI employees as the agency investigates a portal breach.
Published September 23, 2026
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has announced that it is investigating a breach of a job site by a hacking group that claims to have obtained sensitive data about thousands of employees.
“The FBI is aware of claims that a group of cybercriminal companies has compromised the fbijobs.gov portal and is affecting the personally identifying information of FBI employees,” the bureau said in a statement Wednesday.
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“While the site of the breach, whether by a third party or an FBI company, has not yet been determined, we are actively and proactively investigating this matter and working closely with the third-party providers supporting fbijobs.gov to mitigate any risks.”
Several media outlets, including Reuters, reported that they had seen some of the data said to be part of a large archive of 2 to 3 terabytes by the hacker group Shiny Hunters, which claimed responsibility for the data breach. According to Reuters, the data includes detailed information on numerous jobs for bureau employees, including sensitive work with Chinese spies, Russian intelligence, drug cartels and others.
ShinyHunters announced Tuesday that it has infiltrated the FBI and stolen data on a vast number of current and former FBI employees. The agency said it would hold the data hostage until it retracted a disgraceful statement it made about the group in May. The group announced Wednesday that it will work to prevent personal information from being widely leaked for the time being.
An FBI statement in May characterized Shiny Hunter as a “threat actor” who harasses and intimidates victims using “true or exaggerated claims of access to confidential or personal information to induce payments from victims.”
The FBI said the group “may falsely claim to have sensitive or dangerous information, including embarrassing photos and videos of victims, which often do not exist.”
The FBI is a common target for hacking.
In March, the FBI said it was investigating “suspicious activity” on internal systems containing classified information related to surveillance and investigations. Also that month, a group of pro-Iranian hackers claimed to have hacked FBI Director Kash Patel’s account and posted online what appeared to be photos of him from years ago, along with a resume and other personal documents from more than a decade ago.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the job portal was still offline.
