‘Incompetence’: Massive FBI hack hit most employees and extends to local officials

A breach of FBI computer systems exposed personal details on almost every bureau employee and on thousands of local police officers assigned to FBI task forces, according to six current and former officials who spoke to MS NOW. Some officials and outside specialists describe it as among the gravest counterintelligence failures in recent memory, and they question whether carelessness played a role.

An FBI cybersecurity agent blamed "incompetence," saying the bureau believed it had fixed the flaw but overlooked one route, and that the sensitive records should never have been connected to the internet. Two experts said Google had warned publicly about the weakness in June and the FBI responded, but the intruders found a workaround. An FBI official attributed the intrusion to software run by an outside vendor and did not answer questions about incompetence.

The group ShinyHunters reportedly got in via the FBI's jobs portal through an undiscovered flaw in Oracle PeopleSoft. Officials said investigative and classified systems stayed untouched. Stolen records cover home addresses, phone numbers and emergency contacts' Social Security numbers. It posted 5,000 records and says it won't publish the rest, yet experts fear China and Russia are pursuing the data.

Summarized by PolitiKool from MS NOW’s reporting. Read the full story at MS NOW →