The Aporia · Hacking group purports to have stolen FBI data in cyber attack

Hacking group purports to have stolen FBI data in cyber attack

Read the original at ABC News (AU) ↗

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Hacking group purports to have stolen FBI data in cyber attack. (2026, September 22). ABC News (AU). https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09-23/hacking-group-purports-to-have-stolen-fbi-data-in-cyber-attack/107184164

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

Quick Summary

A hacking group called ShinyHunters claims to have stolen data on current and former FBI employees in retaliation for an FBI announcement about their methods. The hackers provided what they say is a screenshot of a vandalized FBI job site and a sample dataset containing personal information like names, addresses, social security numbers, and family member details. Reuters could not independently verify the authenticity or source of this data but found matching records for at least 10 individuals using credit bureau checks. The FBI confirmed unauthorized activity on their job site but did not confirm the theft.

Written by AI on 2026-09-23, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

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 2026-10-30, grounded in this article and the 22 other(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted

sentences that state something as happening or true

Uncertain

32%

7 of 22 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")

Leaning

not political

takes no side on a contested political question

Publisher signals

68/100

ABC News (AU)'s corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.

Outlets on this story

Crime & Law

Same framing elsewhere

articles that frame the event the way this one does

Analyzed 2026-09-23 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability

Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

ABC News (AU) · 4383 article(s) · 10 correction(s) detected

Running correction rate · 10 correction(s)

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Who wrote this

No reporter is named on this article.

Topics

FBI FBIjobs.gov Reuters ShinyHunters disrupted

Subjects

FBI ORG · 15× ShinyHunters ORG · 7× Reuters ORG · 6× Cynthia Kaiser PERSON · 1× District 4 Labs ORG · 1× FBIjobs.gov ORG · 1× Halcyon GPE · 1× Kaiser ORG · 1× Kash Patel PERSON · 1× disrupted ORG · 1×

Narrative

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.

framing: mixed · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-23

🔮 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 the hacking group's methods and advised its targets not to pay it.

2026-09-23 · ABC News (AU)

Hacking group purports to have stolen FBI data in cyber attack · mixed framing

Claims (22 extracted, 7 hedged)

In short: Notorious hacking group ShinyHunters says it has successfully launched a cyber attack on the FBI. asserted

it → say → FBI

The hackers say they have stolen data regarding the majority of current and former FBI employees. asserted

they → say → employees

The FBI released a statement saying the agency was aware of claims regarding unauthorised activity. uncertain

agency → release → activity

The digital extortion group known as ShinyHunters says it has stolen data about the majority of the FBI's current and former employees during a cyber attack. asserted

it → know → attack

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 the hacking group's methods and advised its targets not to pay it. uncertain

that → post → it

ShinyHunters wrote that it had stolen data "on almost ALL FBI Agents, and individuals who filed an application with the FBI for a job". asserted

who → write → job

As proof, the group offered what it said was a screenshot of a vandalised FBI job site and what it described as a small sample of its stolen data. asserted

it → offer → data

The FBI released a statement saying the agency was "aware of claims regarding unauthorised activity affecting FBIjobs.gov and is currently investigating". uncertain

agency → release → FBIjobs.gov

Job site disrupted Reuters could not verify the authenticity of the screenshot, but the job site did appear to have experienced recent disruption. uncertain

site → verify → disruption

A message posted to the site on Tuesday, local time, said both it and the FBI Special Agent Applicant Portal were "currently unavailable". asserted

it → post → Tuesday

The data sample appeared to contain information about FBI agents' names, home addresses, social security numbers, their assignments and, in some cases, the names of their family members. asserted

sample → appear → members

Reuters → verify → firm

In at least 10 instances, including in the case of FBI director Kash Patel, Reuters found details that appeared to match. asserted

that → include → details

A person familiar with the matter said the job descriptions in the data also matched in at least some cases. asserted

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 said. uncertain

hackers → establish → systems

Attempts to reach the people whose details were in the sample data were unsuccessful. asserted

details → reach → data

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. uncertain

they → say → them

Ms Kaiser, who is 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. asserted

leak → note → agents

"Once that information is stolen, it is used forever,"she said. asserted

it → steal → ?

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, which caused widespread disruption across schools and universities. uncertain

which → include → schools

Earlier this month, AI company Anthropic said it caught ShinyHunters-linked hackers trying to use its tools. asserted

hackers → say → tools

On Sunday, the group told Reuters it had gone to war against another notorious cybercrime group, cl0p, in a rare bout of public score-settling. asserted

it → tell → settling