The FBI believes that the incident involves the computer system used by the New York Field Office for investigating child sexual exploitation.
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is reportedly investigating a hack that occurred on its own computer network. The now-contained malicious cyber activity is said to be an “isolated incident,” the agency said on Friday.
However, the agency is still working to uncover the scope and overall impact of the cyberattack.
“The FBI is aware of the incident and is working to gain additional information,” the U.S. domestic intelligence and security service said in an emailed statement to Reuters.
“This is an isolated incident that has been contained. As this is an ongoing investigation the FBI does not have a further comment to provide at this time.”
CNN, which first reported the incident on Friday, said that FBI officials believe it involved the New York Field Office computer system used for investigating child sexual exploitation.
It has not yet been determined when the incident occurred, but, according to one of CNN’s sources, the origin of the hack is still being probed.
This is not the first time the FBI was successfully attacked by cybercriminals. In November 2021, as reported by Hackread.com, the FBI’s email servers were hacked by threat actors who distributed spam emails impersonating FBI warnings in a sophisticated chain attack.
Using [email protected], a legitimate email address linked to the FBI’s Law Enforcement Enterprise Portal (LEEP), the hackers successfully sent out tens of thousands of spam messages in multiple waves.
Stay tuned; this article will be updated with additional information.