On September 22, the hacking group ShinyHunters claimed to have breached FBIjobs.gov, stealing data on nearly all current and former FBI employees. They provided what they said was information on roughly 5,000 agents as a sample, including names, home addresses, Social Security numbers, job assignments, and family member details. Reuters partially verified the authenticity of some of this data but could not confirm its origin or whether it indeed came from an FBI breach. The FBI acknowledged unauthorized activity on their website but did not specify the nature or extent of any potential data theft.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-23,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
ShinyHunters, a notorious hacking group, claimed on September 22 that they breached the FBIjobs.gov website and stole personal data from thousands of current and former FBI employees. The hackers obtained sensitive information such as names, home addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and dates of birth for many agents and job applicants. ShinyHunters defaced the FBI's jobs portal with a mocking message that included President Trump’s signature phrase "Thank you for your attention to this matter," implying retaliation against his administration.
The FBI acknowledged unauthorized activity affecting their job application site but did not confirm the theft of data. Reuters partially verified some stolen information by cross-referencing it with credit bureau records and previous breaches, finding matches in at least nine cases. The hackers threatened further action if the FBI does not address what they see as false allegations against them.
The breach potentially impacted a significant number of individuals who applied for or held positions within the FBI since 2017 when the site became the primary application platform for agent and support roles. The full extent of data compromised remains unclear, but ShinyHunters shared what they claim is a small sample dataset involving approximately 5,000 individuals.
Written for “FBI Data Breach” on 2026-10-05,
grounded in this article and the 22 other(s) covering the same event.
ShinyHunters hackers say they breached FBI, stole data on bureau employees
AI generated
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they → say → employees
WASHINGTON – The digital extortion group known as “ShinyHunters” said on Sept 22 that it had breached the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and stolen data on a huge number of current and former FBI employees.
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it → know → employees
Later, the FBI said in a statement that the agency “is aware of claims regarding unauthorised activity affecting FBIjobs.gov and is currently investigating”.
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agency → say → FBIjobs.gov
In a statement posted to its dark-web site and during an online chat with Reuters, ShinyHunters said it had targeted the FBI in response to a May 2026 agency announcement that detailed ShinyHunters’ methods and advised targets not to pay.
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that → post → targets
It said it had stolen data “on almost ALL FBI Agents, and individuals who filed an application with the FBI for a job”.
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who → say → job
As proof, the group offered what it said was a screenshot of a vandalised FBI job site and what the group said was information on roughly 5,000 agents it said was a sample of the overall stolen data set.
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it → offer → set
Reuters could not verify the authenticity of the screenshot, but the job site did appear to have experienced recent disruption.
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site → verify → disruption
A message posted to the site on Sept 22 said that both it and the FBI “Special Agent Applicant Portal” were “currently unavailable”.
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it → post → Sept
The data sample appeared to contain information about FBI agents’ names, home addresses, Social Security numbers, their assignments and, in at least some cases, the names of their family members.
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sample → appear → members
Reuters was able to partially verify the authenticity of the information by running the details, including the Social Security numbers, against credit bureau records and previously breached data preserved by the dark-web intelligence firm District 4 Labs.
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Reuters → verify → firm
In at least 10 instances – including in the case of FBI Director Kash Patel – Reuters found details that appeared to match.
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that → include → details
A person familiar with the matter said that the job descriptions in the data also matched in at least some cases.
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descriptions → say → cases
However, the news agency could not establish where the data came from, or whether it had been stolen from the FBI’s internal systems as the hackers claimed.
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hackers → establish → systems
Attempts to reach the people whose details were in the sample data were unsuccessful.
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details → reach → data
Past thefts were harmful
Cynthia Kaiser, a former FBI official, said breaches like the ones claimed by ShinyHunters were “incredibly harmful” because they could be used by criminals to expose and put pressure on the people investigating them.
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they → say → them
Kaiser, now senior vice president at cybersecurity firm Halcyon, noted that an old leak dating back to 2016 was still occasionally used today to harass FBI agents.
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leak → note → agents
“Once that information is stolen, it is used forever,” she said.
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she → steal → ?
ShinyHunters is one of the world’s most notorious and attention-seeking hacking crews.
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ShinyHunters → seek → crews
Its recent break-ins include the purported theft of millions of business records from video game developer Rockstar Games, the maker of Grand Theft Auto, and a May intrusion centred on education tool Canvas that caused widespread disruption across US schools.
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that → include → schools
Earlier in September, AI company Anthropic said it had caught ShinyHunters-linked hackers trying to use its tools.
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hackers → say → tools
On Sept 20, the group told Reuters it had gone to war against another notorious cybercrime group, cl0p, in a rare bout of public score-settling.
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it → tell → settling
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