Dutch police have detained a 24‑year‑old suspect in Amsterdam over alleged affiliation with the ShinyHunters criminal collective that accused itself of hacking the personal data of every FBI employee – around 38,000 people.
ShinyHunters claimed the breach took place on 21 September and that it had harvested agents’ names, badges, home addresses and phone numbers. Police say the arrested individual was taken into custody on 15 September, before the alleged attack, and that his laptop held a large amount of "information about two murders that were to be committed abroad", which investigators suspect he might have ordered.
The Dutch investigation is part of a wider probe that could lead to further arrests. "The ShinyHunters group has harmed a large number of national and international victims," Stan Duijf, head of Dutch cybercrime investigations, told reporters. "It is good that we have been able to arrest a suspect."
FBI Director Kash Patel thanked Dutch partners for their cooperation, adding that U.S. teams were working with them to "follow up on new leads" arising from the arrest. Assistant Director Brett Leatherman urged the hackers to surrender, warning them that the longer they stay in hiding, the more information law‑enforcement can uncover.
ShinyHunters, originally founded in France, has a record of high‑profile hacks, including a 2024 breach of Rockstar Games and a disruptive attack on the educational platform Canvas. The group said it exploited a vulnerability in the Oracle cloud storage system that the FBI used for internal systems such as FBIJOBS, FBI BEAST, FBI MedLink, and FBI BICS.
According to a public‑service announcement still hosted on the FBI website, ShinyHunters are "threat actors" who often "use exaggerated claims of access to sensitive information to prompt payments". The group’s recent declaration on the dark web sought to have the FBI retract an advisory issued in May about the gang, claiming it was "offended" by the government’s portrayal.
