ShinyHunters hackers say they breached FBI
The hacking group ShinyHunters claims to have breached the FBI and stolen data on thousands of employees. While the FBI has not confirmed the breach, the group claims the attack was retaliation for the agency's public exposure of their hacking methods.
Why it matters
A successful breach of a major federal law enforcement agency would represent a significant national security concern and a major escalation in cyber warfare.
The digital extortion group known as “ShinyHunters” says it has breached the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the U.S. and claims to have stolen data on thousands of FBI employees.
The bureau did not immediately reply to messages seeking comment on Tuesday (September 22, 2026).
ShinyHunters said in a statement posted to its dark-web site and during an online chat with Reuters that it targeted the FBI in response to a May 2026 agency announcement that detailed ShinyHunters’ methods and advised targets not to pay. The group shared what it said was a screenshot of a vandalized FBI job site and what it described as a sample of its stolen data.
Reuters could not verify the authenticity of the screenshot, but a message posted to the FBI job site on Tuesday said that the site and the FBI “Special Agent Applicant Portal” were both “currently unavailable.”
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