Hackers Apparently Stole the FBI's Call Logs With Confidential Informants

"Not good."

Intel Atlantic

The FBI admitted that hackers appear to have broken into AT&T's systems last year to steal months of call and text logs — data pilfering that could endanger the agency's own operatives.

According to a document reviewed by Bloomberg, the FBI scrambled to contain the disaster. The infiltrators got access to data from all devices used by FBI agents under the bureau's AT&T service for public safety agencies, according to the outlet's reporting, though exactly how they did so remains unclear.

It's nonetheless an egregious lapse in telecommunications cybersecurity, which could aid hackers in tracking down FBI agents' sensitive communications with informants, among other data. According to one of Bloomberg's sources, the stolen information contained the call logs of at least one agent.

The hack also highlights lapses in the cybersecurity of the FBI itself, turning the hack into a considerable risk to its operations and even national security — not to mention potentially undermining its ability to keep confidential informants safe.

Over Confidant

The agency is already dealing with a separate data breach affecting nine different telecommunications companies. In November, US officials blamed Chinese state-sponsored hackers, part of a spy group called Salt Typhoon, for a "broad and significant cyber-espionage campaign."

The latest hack adds even more pressure on telecommunications companies like AT&T, as well as the FBI.

"After criminals stole customer data last year, we worked closely with law enforcement to mitigate impact to government operations," AT&T spokesperson Alex Byers told Bloomberg.

"The FBI continually adapts our operational and security practices as physical and digital threats evolve," the FBI added in a statement.

Nonetheless, the call and text logs leak is a major setback for the agency, retired FBI agent William Evanina told the publication.

"Any disclosure of such communications is both significantly detrimental to investigations but also potentially dangerous to confidential informants if their identity is disclosed," he said. "Not good."

"This is an op-sec failure more than a technology failure," former agent Miguel Clarke told Bloomberg.

The exact extent of the latest hack remains unknown, but it certainly reveals some uncomfortable cybersecurity shortcomings.

"I worry about the FBI sources who might have been affected by this AT&T exposure, but more broadly the public still doesn't have a full understanding of the fallout of the Salt Typhoon campaigns," former NSA hacker and Hunter Strategy vice president of research Jake Williams told Wired. "And it seems that the US government is still working on getting a grasp of that as well."

More on cybersecurity: It Appears That Chinese Hackers Have Stolen Your Naughty Texts