The FBI's top official on Oct. 9 announced that the agency had arrested another suspected member of ShinyHunters, the digital hacking group accused of stealing personnel data from the FBI's jobs site in September.
"This is the latest arrest this FBI has made in a matter of days involving this network, as we work non-stop to dismantle the group, pursue new leads and evidence, and act quickly," FBI Director Kash Patel posted on X.
Patel, who did not release the identity of the person arrested, said the breach took place on a platform managed by a third-party vendor. The New York Times is reporting that the suspect is a Canadian citizen and was arrested in Pennsylvania.
Officials have not said how the group − which the FBI is calling "a global cybercrime
and threat actor group linked to cyberattacks in the United States, the Netherlands, and around the world" − gained access to FBIjobs.gov. But Reuters previously reported that an internal memo distributed across the FBI said officials were operating under the assumption that all current and former employees had been exposed.
USA TODAY has reached out to the FBI for more information.
The arrest comes on the heels of Patel, on Sept. 29, announcing that Dutch National Police had arrested one of the alleged leaders of ShinyHunters.
In a statement posted on X one day earlier, Dutch police announced that they had arrested a 24-year-old man suspected of playing a role with ShinyHunters.
Police also did not name that man, but Reuters reported that Benjamin Korper of Amsterdam-based cybersecurity company Neo Security said it was Pepijn van der Stap, the company's offensive security lead. Korper said Dutch investigators visited his office Sept. 15 – the same day van der Stap was arrested in a police raid that involved flash bang grenades.
FBI Assistant Director Brett Leatherman said the cybercriminals have allegedly breached more than 140 organizations and taken at least $70 million in extortion payments.
The group, Leatherman said, often targets "third-party vendors in cloud-based platforms, stealing sensitive data and extorting victims with threats to publish it."
The case remained under investigation on Oct. 9, Patel said.
Contributing: Reuters
Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on X @nataliealund.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: FBI makes new arrest in ShinyHunters hacking case, Kash Patel says
