In 2023, an unidentified foreign hacker breached the FBI’s field office in New York. The hacker compromised files related to the bureau’s investigation into the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
According to a report citing a source familiar with the breach and court documents, the intrusion took advantage of a server at the Child Exploitation Forensic Lab in the FBI’s New York Field Office. This server was left inadvertently vulnerable by an FBI special agent working on the case. A court document stated the breach included combing through certain files pertaining to the Epstein investigation.
An FBI spokesperson said the investigation is ongoing. The spokesperson stated that following the 2023 cyber incident, the FBI contained the affected network and determined the incident to be an isolated one. The FBI restricted access to the malicious actor and rectified the network.
A source reported that the hacker did not realize they had broken into the FBI until agents asked them to join a video call. During that call, the agents showed their credentials to the hacker.