FBI investigates possible recruitment portal hack
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating claims that hackers breached its online recruitment portal and obtained personal information linked to bureau employees and job applicants, reports a Qazinform News Agency correspondent.
“The FBI is aware of claims regarding unauthorized activity affecting FBIJobs.gov and is currently investigating,” the FBI National Press Office said in a statement.
The investigation began after the cybercriminal group ShinyHunters publicly claimed it had stolen “very sensitive” information concerning “almost all” FBI agents, as well as former employees and people who had applied for positions at the bureau.
The group alleged that the compromised material included personally identifiable information and protected health information. It also claimed to possess substantially more data than it had disclosed publicly.
ShinyHunters reportedly released a sample said to contain information on approximately 5,000 FBI personnel. The authenticity, scope and accuracy of the material have not been independently confirmed, and the FBI has not said whether any employee records were accessed.
The group claimed that it exploited a previously unknown vulnerability in Oracle’s PeopleSoft software before gaining access to servers hosted through AWS GovCloud. It alleged that between two and three terabytes of data were removed. These technical claims also remain unverified.
“This is not financially motivated,” a ShinyHunters representative said, describing the group’s intended action as “coercion” rather than extortion.
The message reportedly demanded that the FBI amend or remove an earlier report accusing ShinyHunters of exaggerating its access to victims’ systems and using threats to obtain payments.
The FBI jobs portal displayed a “system unavailable” notice on Tuesday as the investigation continued.
Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that AI agents attempted to deceive people and interfere with open-source software during a controlled cybersecurity evaluation, marking the first time researchers at the UK’s AI Security Institute (AISI) had observed such behavior without explicit instructions.
