ShinyHunters website goes offline after FBI deadline expires
FILE PHOTO: U.S. flags flutter in the wind over the entrance to the J. Edgar Hoover Building in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 16, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
Sept 30 : The website used by ShinyHunters, the group that claimed responsibility for a recent hack of thousands of FBI agents' personal and sensitive data, went offline on Wednesday, a day after the group's deadline for the FBI to retract or modify a statement about the group's tactics and track record expired.
• ShinyHunters, a prolific cyber extortion group with a long record of targeting major corporations around the world, told Reuters and other news organizations on September 22 that it had stolen data "on almost ALL FBI Agents, and individuals who filed an application with the FBI for a job."
• A Reuters analysis of a sample of the data shared by the hackers subsequently revealed that the data contained extensive personally identifiable information, sensitive job role information, and psychiatric and medical information.
• Reuters could not determine why the site was offline. ShinyHunters could not be reached for comment.
• The hackers said they targeted the FBI in response to a May 2026 FBI advisory about the group that the hackers felt misrepresented their prior actions. They gave the FBI a week to either "correct or simply REMOVE" the advisory.
• The advisory remains online. ShinyHunters later said it had no intention of publishing the data it stole and that it accomplished its goals.
• The FBI said on September 23 that it was "actively and aggressively investigating" the breach. The agency declined to comment on Wednesday on whether it had taken any actions to force the hackers' site offline. Brett Leatherman, assistant director of the FBI's Cyber Division, urged the hackers in a video published on the agency's website on September 29 to get in touch with the FBI "while the choice is still yours."
• Dutch police announced this week that on September 15 they had arrested a Dutch man in connection with an investigation into ShinyHunters. The hacking group told Reuters the man had "no association" with them and mocked the Dutch police as "incompetent."
