Trump's Trials - FBI investigating after hackers say they took sensitive data from agency's jobs site

Episode Date: September 24, 2026

The FBI is investigating criminal hackers' claims of breaching its jobs website. The apparent hack poses a potential counterintelligence risk and a safety concern for employees and applicants. NPR's Ryan Lucas reports.Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

You're listening to Trump's terms. I'm Scott Detrow. The president has both an ability and a willingness to use the power of his office, to think outside the box. Nobody makes a better deal than President Trump. We're going to do better and better and better. Nobody can believe what they're watching. Every episode, we bring you one story from NPR's recent coverage of the 47th president. With a focus on ways his administration is pushing the boundaries of presidential power.

Here's the latest from NPR. From NPR News, I'm Layla Faldin. The FBI says it's investigating criminal hackers' claims to have breached the computer system for the Bureau's jobs website. The apparent hack could pose a counterintelligence risk for the nation's premier law enforcement agency. NPR justice correspondent Ryan Lucas reports. The cyber criminal group known as shiny hunters has claimed responsibility for the hack. And a message circulated online and addressed to FBI director Cash Patel, the group says it now holds sensitive data on almost all FBI agents and people who applied for a job at the Bureau.

Cynthia Kaiser is a former senior FBI cyber official, now at the Halcyon Ransomware Research Center. At least some of the claims are true because the FBI jobs portal's been downed. It was apparently defaced. So you have to at least take some of those claims as true. The FBI says in a statement on X that it is aware of the hacker's claims to have breached the system, and taking FBI employees personally identifiable information, things like name, address, and phone number. Having that information out in the world has counterintelligence implications, Kaiser says. This is a gold bind for foreign actors, for other countries looking to figure out ways to target FBI employees, just know more about what might be going out of the FBI, what types of numbers there are,

how they can target people, et cetera. A bigger immediate concern for her, though, revolves around questions of basic safety. They've worried a little bit more about the short-term effects of criminals who could get their hands on this type of data and actually target FBI employees and their families at their homes. That's because FBI agents' names are on publicly available court records that connect them to specific criminal cases. As for the ongoing investigation into the breach, Kaiser says in the immediate term, the FBI typically tries to verify the data that's been taken and alert employees and applicants whose information may have been affected. It also likely will redouble its efforts against the group behind this. It feels like a really bad idea to target law enforcement, especially in such a publicly

shaming way. You put a target on your back. Kaiser says Shiny Hunters is generally motivated by money. In this instance, though, the motive appears to be elsewhere. The group is demanding that the FBI change or remove a public advice. advisory it released about the group and its tactics. Ryan Lucas, NPR News, Washington. Before we wrap up a reminder, you can find more coverage of the Trump administration on the NPR Politics podcast,

where you can hear NPR's political reporters break down the day's biggest political news with new episodes every weekday afternoon. And thanks, as always, to our NPR Plus supporters who hear every episode of the show without sponsor messages. You can learn more at plus.npr.org. I'm Scott Detrow. Thanks for listening to Trump's terms from NPR.