On Friday, the FBI confirmed that a “cyber incident” has taken place involving one of its computer systems. According to CNN reports, the system in question is used by the bureau to carry out probe into child sexual exploitation cases, and two sources profess the focus of the malicious cyber activity is the FBI New York Field Office. According to people familiar with the matter, the FBI has been probing in and working to get hold of a malicious cyber incident on part of its computer network in recent days.
The bureau said in a statement, “The FBI is aware of the incident and is working to gain additional information. This is an isolated incident that has been contained. As this is an ongoing investigation the FBI does not have further comment to provide at this time.”
FBI officials have toiled to isolate the malicious cyber activity, which two of the sources said involved the FBI New York Field Office – one of the bureau’s biggest and high profile offices. The origin of the hacking incident is still being probed, as per a source.
Like any big government agency or corporation, the FBI has to deal with an string of online threats.
In November 2021, someone used a valid email address that the FBI uses to communicate with state and local law enforcement to send phony emails to thousands of organizations about a planned cyber threat. At the time, the bureau said that it fixed a software vulnerability related to the incident, but the bureau has yet to publicly name a suspect.
In a statement, the FBI said, “The FBI is aware of the incident and is working to gain additional information … This is an isolated incident that has been contained. As this is an ongoing investigation the FBI does not have further comment to provide at this time.”
It is hopeful the FBI decides to share further details on what exactly the hacker was able to get his hands on, if any data was actually stolen, and how exactly access was possible in the first instance. Citing one source familiar with the matter, however the breach has now been contained, it remains unclear where the hack originated.
US government agencies already know of the threat posed by cybercriminals after the Solarwinds supply chain attack affected a number of departments, and triggered an executive order to boost the nation’s cybersecurity, and had government officials weighing in last year on how well that was going. Recently, the FBI is becoming a regular target, with the latest incident happening in December 2022 when one of its important databases was hacked containing the confidential details of more than 80,000 esteemed private sector people.
