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WASHINGTON (AP) -- The FBI said Wednesday that it was investigating a criminal hacking group's claims that it had stolen "very sensitive data" belonging to thousands of agents and applicants and that it had compromised the bureau's jobs website.
"The FBI is aware of a cyber-criminal enterprise group claiming a compromise of the FBIJobs.gov portal and alleged impact to FBI employee personally identifiable information," the FBI said in a statement. It said that while the "point of breach" was undetermined, "we are actively and aggressively investigating this matter and working closely with those third-party providers that support FBIJobs.gov to mitigate any and all risk."
The jobs website, the main portal for prospective employees to learn about the FBI and initiate the application process, remained offline as of Wednesday afternoon.
A message that circulated online from a hacking group known as ShinyHunters claimed responsibility for the hack.
"We have compromised the FBI. We hold very sensitive data on almost ALL FBI Agents and individuals who filed an application with the FBI for a job," said the ShinyHunters message, which was directed to FBI Director Kash Patel and Brett Leatherman, the assistant director in charge of the bureau's cyber division.
The claims could not immediately be verified, and an email to an address associated with ShinyHunters was not immediately returned.
Miriam Wugmeister, a lawyer specializing in data, privacy and cybercrime who tracks hacking outfits like ShinyHunters, said that based on the group's past practices, there was reason to believe the hackers' claims, "so I think it's likely that they were able to compromise this website and they got some data."