FBI Has Warned Agents It Believes Hackers Stole Their Call Logs

  FBI leaders have warned that they believe hackers who broke into AT&T Inc.’s system last year stole months of their agents’ call and text logs, setting off a race within the bureau to protect the identities of confidential informants, a document reviewed by Bloomberg News shows.

FBI officials told agents across the country that details about their use on the telecom carrier’s network were believed to be among the billions of records stolen, according to the document and interviews with a current and a former law enforcement official. They asked not to be named to discuss sensitive information. Data from all FBI devices under the bureau’s AT&T service for public safety agencies were presumed taken, the document shows.

The cache of hacked AT&T records didn’t reveal the substance of communications but, according to the document, could link investigators to their secret sources. The data was believed to include agents’ mobile phone numbers and the numbers with which they called and texted, the document shows. Records for calls and texts that weren’t on the AT&T network, such as through encrypted messaging apps, weren’t part of the stolen data.

AT&T publicly disclosed the breach in July and said it included six months worth of mobile phone customer data from 2022. The hackers threatened to sell the data unless the telecommunications company paid an extortion fee.

A person with knowledge of the breach, who reviewed a sample of the stolen information, confirmed that it contained records of sensitive FBI communications: the call logs of at least one agent. The person asked not to be named because the information is private.

The FBI’s concern about the hack compromising its secret sources, which hasn’t been previously reported, highlights how data stolen from phone companies has the potential to disrupt criminal investigations and national security. Former agents said it also raises questions about the bureau’s own security practices and how it safeguards its sources. US authorities are still investigating a separate breach of nine telecommunications companies, including AT&T. They blamed Chinese state-backed hackers for those intrusions, which compromised the communications of a number of people in government and politics.

The FBI declined to answer specific questions, including whether the April breach of AT&T compromised sources or investigations, or if the stolen data has since been secured. “The FBI continually adapts our operational and security practices as physical and digital threats evolve,” the agency said in a statement. “The FBI has a solemn responsibility to protect the identity and safety of confidential human sources, who provide information every day that keeps the American people safe, often at risk to themselves.”

AT&T spokesperson Alex Byers said, “After criminals stole customer data last year, we worked closely with law enforcement to mitigate impact to government operations.” He said the company appreciates law enforcement’s recent arrests for the breach and continues to “increase investments in security as well as monitor and remediate our networks.”

Former FBI and intelligence officials said stolen phone records could in theory be used by a foreign espionage service to unravel painstakingly assembled source networks, potentially imperiling criminal probes, national security operations and people’s lives.

“Any disclosure of such communications is both significantly detrimental to investigations but also potentially dangerous to confidential informants if their identity is disclosed,” said William Evanina, a retired FBI agent and the former director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center. “Not good.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/fbi-warned-agents-believes-hackers-185420839.html