According to reports, the FBI is looking into harmful online behavior on the network of the agency. The federal law enforcement organization claims to have already stopped the “isolated occurrence” and is investigating its full extent and overall effects. The American domestic intelligence and security service said that “the FBI is aware of the issue and is seeking to obtain additional information.”
“This one incidence has been contained and is an isolated one. The FBI does not currently have any additional comments to make due to the ongoing nature of this investigation.” This hacking issue involving a computer system utilized by the FBI’s New York Field Office to look into child sexual exploitation was initially revealed by CNN on Friday.
Hackers Compromised FBI Email Systems
The FBI’s email servers were also compromised in November 2021, allowing spammers to send out emails masquerading as FBI alerts about a “sophisticated chain attack.”
Following the compromise, threat actors used the legitimate email address [email protected], which is connected to the FBI’s Law Enforcement Enterprise Portal, to send tens of thousands of these spam messages in several waves (LEEP).
According to spam-tracking organization SpamHaus, these emails have reached at least 100,000 mailboxes, but this was an extremely modest estimate because the effort “was potentially much, much larger.”
“An actor temporarily exploited the Law Enforcement Enterprise Portal (LEEP) to send phony emails, according to a software bug that the FBI is aware of. LEEP is the FBI’s IT system for corresponding with our regional and local law enforcement allies. “At the time, the FBI stated.
“Even though the fraudulent email came from a server run by the FBI, that server was only used to push LEEP warnings and was not a part of the FBI’s official email system. On the FBI’s network, no actor was able to access or breach any data or PII.”
Conclusion
According to reports, the FBI has been battling a malicious cyber effort on its computers. Which systems were compromised and for how long are still a mystery. Friday morning was the first time CNN reported that the FBI was looking into a “cyber incident” that had affected one of its computer networks. Unnamed sources “briefed on the topic” claim that the CIA has recently been looking into and attempting to contain the alleged hacking attempt.
The article has few details about the scope of the attempted breach or the potential impact. Still, the unnamed sources reportedly claimed that the incident involved the FBI computer system used to look into child sexual abuse data. The sources also claimed that the FBI’s New York field office had been somehow involved in the breach. The organization said via email that it is “aware of the issue and is seeking to acquire additional information.” According to the FBI, the “single event” was “contained,” and an investigation is still being conducted. We also contacted the New York field office, but we did not receive a response right away.
