FBI investigating claim hackers have stolen details of all its agents

The FBI is investigating a claim by a cyber-crime group that it has stolen sensitive information on all bureau staff - around 38,000 people.

The hackers, Shiny Hunters, says it has every agent's name, role, badge number and personal details including home address, phone numbers and spouse information.

Professor Ciaran Martin, the former head of the UK's National Cyber Security Centre, said - if confirmed - it was "as serious as it gets when it comes to data breaches."

In a statement posted on X, the FBI said it was aware of the claim and the agency was "actively and aggressively investigating the matter".

The criminals claim to have breached the FBI's servers on Monday night and began contacting reporters on Tuesday sharing samples and screenshots of the stolen data.

The BBC has seen a small portion of the data, which appears to be genuine.

According to Reuters, some of the data contains details about officials' ​job assignments, including sensitive work against Chinese spies, Russian intelligence and drug cartels.

ShinyHunters is an international collective of hackers, believed to have originally started in France. It has been behind a number of high-profile breaches including on Rockstar Games in April and a highly disruptive hack on education platform Canvas in May.