Reuters partially authenticated a limited sample, while the FBI says it is aggressively investigating the reported breach.
The hacking group ShinyHunters says data stolen from FBI systems includes psychiatric and medical evaluations belonging to bureau employees and job applicants.
Reuters reviewed approximately half a dozen files circulated by the group and reported that it was able to authenticate parts of the sample through credit records, professional profiles and a person familiar with FBI medical evaluations.
The documents reportedly included pre-employment and fitness-for-duty information. Reuters could not determine whether the small sample represented the larger collection the hackers claim to possess.
ShinyHunters says it obtained between two and three terabytes of data after accessing FBIJobs.gov and related systems. It also claims the breach reached internal applicant-screening, background-investigation and medical-record services. Reuters could not corroborate those broader claims.
The FBI declined to comment specifically on the medical records but said it is “aggressively investigating” the reported breach.
The bureau previously warned that ShinyHunters has exaggerated the scope of its access in earlier extortion attempts. The group says it targeted the FBI after objecting to a May advisory in which the agency described its methods and advised victims not to pay hackers.
The full scale of the incident, the number of people affected and whether all the leaked files are authentic remain undetermined.
