In brief
A 24‑year‑old man from Amsterdam was taken into custody by Dutch police after the ShinyHunters group claimed to have accessed sensitive data on 38,000 FBI employees. Investigators say the suspect had incriminating evidence, including plans for overseas murders. The arrest came just days before the group released screenshots of stolen FBI records on social media. U.S. officials and the FBI are already coordinating with Dutch authorities on the ongoing investigation.
Dutch police have taken a 24‑year‑old man from Amsterdam into custody following an online claim that the ShinyHunters gang had infiltrated every officer’s personal data at the FBI.
The group said it held names, badge numbers, home addresses and phone numbers for some 38,000 FBI employees, a figure the bureau said was impossible to fabricate.
Police say the suspect was arrested on 15 September and that it seized a laptop that held large amounts of data and plans for murders overseas, evidence that police say the man may have ordered.
The FBI’s director Kash Patel tweeted thanks to Dutch partners and said U.S. teams were now pursuing fresh leads spurred by the arrest.
ShinyHunters is a French‑born collective that has targeted high‑profile firms such as Rockstar Games and the Canvas education platform, and recently claimed a vulnerability in Oracle’s cloud storage that exposed several FBI systems.
ShinyHunters accused the agency of offending it with a May advisory and demanded a retraction, but the FBI has called the hackers threat actors who prey on leaked data.
The Dutch investigation remains open, with officials not ruling out further arrests as the collaboration between Dutch and U.S. authorities deepens.
