FBI investigating ‘suspicious’ cyber activity on system holding sensitive surveillance information
WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI said this week it was investigating “suspicious activity” on an internal system containing sensitive information related to surveillance operations and investigations.
The bureau is working to determine the scope and impact of the problem, according to a memo sent to members of Congress saying the unnamed criminal used sophisticated techniques to exploit FBI network security controls.
The notice, obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday, states that the FBI began investigating anomalous log information about a system on its network on February 17.
“The affected system is unclassified and contains law enforcement-sensitive information, including returns from legal processes, such as pen registration and trap and trace surveillance returns, and personally identifiable information related to FBI investigations,” the notice reviewed by The Associated Press said.
Pen recording is a common surveillance tool that allows law enforcement to record telephone numbers called by a particular line.
The FBI confirmed the cyber incident in a statement but did not provide additional details.
“The FBI detected and addressed suspicious activity on FBI networks, and we used all of our technical capabilities to respond,” the FBI said. “We have nothing additional to answer.”
Neither the FBI statement nor the notice specified who might be responsible for the incident, but the bureau and other officials Federal agencies have long been targets of foreign hackers Attempting to spy on sensitive operations and decision-making processes.
In this example, the FBI said the techniques used were “sophisticated” and involved leveraging the infrastructure of a commercial internet service provider vendor to exploit FBI network security controls.
