Trump’s FBI Hack Gets Much Worse

0:00Ben Meiselas:We are now learning that the massive hack into the FBI database is much worse than even initially reported. And I do want to remind you that not only has the FBI databases been hacked this past week, they were also hacked back in February of this year. Kash Patel's personal emails were hacked in March of this year. The Department of Homeland Security had its database hacked in June of this year. And in August, there were 30 water facilities in Minnesota and close to 7 to 10 water facilities or so in Michigan that were hacked as well. There is a pervasive hacking issue and the vulnerabilities that currently exist in our government systems with the incompetence of the Trump regime.

0:57Ben Meiselas:It's being covered up, but I think we're learning more and more about it, especially right now with this latest hack by shiny hunters. I mean, they plastered their imagery on the FBI jobs page. When you went to FBI jobs, it would say Shiny Hunters has basically taken over this website. And what we now know is some of the data that was taken, I mean, it just goes beyond the information of a lot of FBI personnel and their spouses and where they live and other confidential personnel information about these FBI employees. But according to this Reuters report from earlier this morning, the FBI data allegedly stolen by the hacking group Shiny Hunters carries granular detail about scores of bureau officials' job assignments, including sensitive work against Chinese spies, Russian intelligence, drug cartels, and more.

2:05Ben Meiselas:And this is particularly interesting as well as it comes on the same time or comes on the heels right around the same time as Xi Jinping, of course, arriving in the United States. Donald Trump bowing to Xi Jinping at that bizarre tarmac joint Andrews base meeting that we covered here, where Donald Trump made our Air Force personnel and Army personnel literally get on their knees with the red carpet for Xi Jinping. Here's what 404 is reporting. They've been doing extraordinary reporting on these hacks. This is the latest from them. FBI hack exposed FBI's own hacking unit as well. So the FBI has a remote operations unit called ROU, and it's a highly secretive team of the FBI hackers.

3:04Ben Meiselas:and the ability to gain information into them, that's now been exposed. What they do, how the FBI hacks databases, that's being exposed by this most recent hack. So 404 goes on to say, the catastrophic hack of at least thousands of FBI officials' personal data, including their address, phone numbers, and even their spouse's personal data, includes members of the FBI's secretive hacking team, potentially revealing who exactly is in that unit, 404 Media has found. The findings further highlight how sensitive the stolen data is and how valuable it may be to criminals or to foreign intelligence agencies.

3:56Ben Meiselas:There is very little public information about the FBI's hacking unit, including the operation it conducts, the tools it use, or which agents are part of it. Now, I should also note as I'm reading this, I reflect on the fact that we now know for sure China has analyzed and working to reverse engineer those F-35 parts that were supposed to be sent from Australia back to the United States. But they found their way into Hong Kong, and then they found their way further into the broader Beijing intelligence apparatus. The sloppiness of which the Trump regime does everything, the fact that they gutted so many people responsible for cybersecurity.

4:44Ben Meiselas:If this is what we're seeing shiny hunters do, just think about what foreign intelligence agencies have been able to penetrate. And we know this Trump regime covers up everything. What does China know about our systems? What does Russia know about our systems? What does any intelligence agency, North Korea, what does any intelligence agency know about our systems? I can be pretty damn confident that they've got all this data and they're just eating it up right now. So the FBI's recent statement was, we're aware of a cyber criminal enterprise group claiming a compromise of the FBI jobs.gov portal and alleged impact to FBI employee personally identifying information.

5:33Ben Meiselas:While the point of the breach is still undetermined, whether a third party or the FBI's enterprise were actively and aggressively investigating this matter and working closely with those third party providers that support FBIjobs.gov to mitigate this risk. It's probably at least 5 ,000 FBI officials whose information now is in the hands of Shiny Hunters and others as well. But you go back, January, February, March, I think March, the story was revealed that back on, I think it was February 17th, the FBI first detected suspicious activity then. And then it was revealed on March that there appeared to be a sophisticated hack that took place then.

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7:52Ben Meiselas:And they said, this is the FBI statement back then. The details the FBI shared with Congress and the White House's outreach to the NSA suggest the incident could be significant. The affected system is unclassified and contains law enforcement sensitive information, including returns from legal process such as pen register and trap and trace surveillance returns and personally identifiable information pertaining to subjects of FBI investigations. That's one of the pieces of information that was taken. Pen register and trap and trace devices are used by law enforcement to monitor call metadata to and from a target's home.

8:40Ben Meiselas:The FBI said in its notice to Congress that one side of the group's advanced skills was how it broke through the FBI's security controls by leveraging a commercial internet service provider vendor's infrastructure to slip into the FBI's network. I mean, look, Shiny Hunters knows what they're doing. They've got a team of hackers over there, but I mean, here's how they say they did it. They're saying, here's how we did the most recent one. We exploited a zero-day vulnerability in Oracle PeopleSoft, the HR and recruiting platform that FBI uses to manage job applications and employee records. They then pivoted to an Amazon-hosted government cloud storing agent and applicant data.

9:26Ben Meiselas:They defaced the FBI's job portal, and then they took all this information. I mean, it was sophisticated, but they kind of told you how they did it most recently. And I mean, when you then say, hmm, I wonder, is Kash Patel taking this hacking stuff seriously? March 27, 2026, Iran-linked hackers breached FBI Director Kash Patel's personal emails. Remember when that happened over there? Or how about June 30th, 2026? Hackers breached Department of Homeland Security Information Sharing Network, people familiar say. A key Department of Homeland Security Information database was accessed by an unknown threat actor in recent weeks, potentially exposing sensitive data exchanged between federal, state, local, and industry partners, according to two people familiar with this matter.

10:19Ben Meiselas:What about when we go to early August when Donald Trump was like, the hacks that are happening in Minnesota and Michigan are being caused because they're blue states or that they're run by Democrats. And that's what's going on here. Here's what we learn. U.S. officials are investigating a wave of cyber attacks targeting water systems in at least seven states, not just Minnesota and Michigan, but those were two of the main states, with evidence potentially pointing to Iran, though officials say the investigation is still preliminary. The attack disrupted some operations but did not contaminate drinking water or pose known public health risks.

11:03Ben Meiselas:Trump disputed Iran's involvement and said, what do you mean you're disputing Iran's involvement? And Trump's like, it's just the states that are incompetent. It's their fault. Cyber security experts describe the campaigns as an unprecedented targeting of U.S. water infrastructure, likely aimed at exploiting vulnerable systems rather than specific communities. But lots of people said one of the reasons that Iran probably targeted Minnesota and Michigan and states like that is knowing and testing whether Donald Trump would just blame the states or whether Donald Trump would actually blame hackers for doing it.

11:45Ben Meiselas:Do you remember back on, I think it was late July when Donald Trump had one of those camp, I think it was at Camp David. Yeah. He held the press conference. Oh, we're so close. The war is about to end. It's amazing. Iran wants to do a deal. The Strait of Hormuz is open, right? The same crap he was doing it then. And then he said, you know, people are saying that Iran may have been, Iran hackers, like Handala. The Iranian Handala hackers? they're like one of the premier hacking groups out there. I mean, they've done some powerful, some of the biggest hacks that have been out there. But remember what Trump said at the time?

12:26Ben Meiselas:Here, listen to it for yourself. Let's play this clip. Today, I just want to mention that we heard in Minnesota there was a cyber attack and they blame it on Iran. I don't think so. I think I blame it on Minnesota because they're grossly incompetent. There was a cyber attack of 30 water plants. And I would blame it on Minnesota and the governor, the corrupt governor of Minnesota. They like to say, oh, it's Iran. Iran should be so lucky. Iran's got bigger problems than worrying about Minnesota. Crazy, right? Trump's like, it's the state that did it. It's the state that did it. And so the broader question here is, as you see what's happening, is where is this data?

13:08Ben Meiselas:I mean, I'll show you how this was reported on state regime media. This is what they said on Fox. Let's play this clip. Hackers are targeting critical infrastructure here at home. Jennifer Griffin has much more for us. Hi, Jennifer. Good morning. Hi. Good morning, Dana. Minnesota has reported attacks on roughly 30 water systems, while Michigan has confirmed nine incidents, seven states in total. The FBI has warned that Iranian-affiliated cyber actors are targeting internet-connected industrial control systems used by U.S. critical infrastructure, including water and wastewater facilities. But until this point, the White House has tried to avoid blaming Iran.

13:49We heard in Minnesota there was a cyber attack and they blame it on Iran. I don't think so. I think I blame it on Minnesota because they're grossly incompetent. Iran certainly has been doing this well before this conflict, and this is something we certainly need to be aware of. But we're at war now, though. CISA, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, warned Thursday it is seeing, quote, a significant increase in cyber threat actors targeting programmable logic controllers, PLCs, in the water and wastewater system sector, adding that the activity has resulted in boil water notices and sustained manual operations.

14:29Ben Meiselas:All indications are pointing to Iran. Right. Who has access to all our government system? How much has been penetrated and how much is being covered up right now? Because I think one of the biggest stories is going to be that all of our systems have basically been hacked. We got rid of all our top people. The Trump regime got rid of all of our top people. So I think what we're going to see is a natural consequence of that, that we'll learn that most of our systems have been susceptible to all these different intelligence agency operations and hacking group operations. And they're just sitting on this information right now.

15:10Ben Meiselas:Hit subscribe. Let's get to 7 million subscribers. And thanks for watching, everybody. Hey, if you want the full story, how democracy got here and how we take it back, pre-order our new book, WTF America, today. Just scan the QR code or click the link in the description. Let's do this.