Huge Data Breach Leaves F.B.I. Scrambling, and Russian Attacks Destroy Millions of Books
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hey, it's Anna Martin from the New York Times. What if I told you you'll never have to hear this line again?
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From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Tuesday, September twenty ninth. Here's what we're covering. The FBI is scrambling to protect its staff after a criminal hacking group carried out what may be one of the worst breaches of sensitive government information in US history.
What sensitive employee data did hackers steal in the FBI breach?
The group, known as Shiny Hunters, said it stole personal data on thousands of FBI staffers, and the Bureau has sent out an internal memo saying it believes that every single employee may have had their data compromised.
This hacking group has shared with the New York Times, among other news organizations, what they say is a sample of the data they got. And we can see names, dates of birth, social security numbers, home addresses, phone numbers, spouses, their contact information, even numbers that are used for TSA pre-check flight boarding purposes, the whole digital. life therefore of all these employees.
My colleague Charlie Savage covers national security.
Some of them have quite sensitive roles.
How could the FBI data breach endanger agents and their families?
They are listed in here as working on national security wiretapping or counter-espionage targeting Russia or China or big narcotics investigations that would involve dangerous cartels. And so this has several implications, and it's causing people who work in the FBI to freak out, quite understandably. obvious one is that if this were to become public, people fear that people that they arrested or uh are mad at them for some investigative activity could show up at their house, meaning to do harm to them or their families.
Charlie says what matters most is what happens to the data next. The hacking group has said it has no plans to release it, but security experts worry it could end up in the hands of foreign governments or criminal groups who could use it to piece together the identity of undercover agents, putting them and larger FBI operations at risk. Before this breach, Shiny Hunters was best known as a group of highly skilled English-speaking hackers who extort their victims for millions of dollars and brag about their exploits. The group has said it hacked the FBI as retribution for a public advisory the Bureau put out, claiming Shiny Hunters harassed and threatened its victims. The group has demanded that the FBI quote, correct or simply remove the advisory.
For its part, the Bureau said in a statement yesterday that it's quote, working around the clock to investigate the cyber incident, and it's told employees to remain vigilant at work and at home and to report any threats.
In the Middle East, new data shows that the amount of oil getting out through the Strait of Hormuz rose sharply this month, in what some experts say may be a sign Iran is losing its grip on the waterway.
Why are more oil tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz?
According to data from the tracking firm Kepler, about six million barrels were getting out a day in August. That number jumped to roughly 10 million barrels a day in September. While that's still well below the roughly sixteen million barrels a day that we're getting out before the war, it's a significant sign of recovery. For the record, tracking the exact number of tankers can be difficult since most of the ships turn off their transponders when they're going through the strait to avoid being spotted by Iranian forces. The uptick in shipping traffic appears to have been encouraged by the US military operation aimed at protecting tankers in the waterway. In recent months, the US has been using ships, helicopters, and planes to intercept Iranian attacks on boats carrying oil and gas.
According to US Central Command, the military has helped over 1,000 ships transit the strait.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–0:56
2
What sensitive employee data did hackers steal in the FBI breach?
0:56–1:46
3
How could the FBI data breach endanger agents and their families?
1:46–3:45
4
Why are more oil tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz?
3:45–5:22
5
How have Russian attacks destroyed millions of Ukrainian books?
5:22–6:31
6
Why is the destruction of Ukrainian-language books a cultural attack?
6:31–7:34
7
How do adaptive smart headlights make nighttime driving safer?
7:34–9:14
8
Why are AI companies calling employees ‘members of the technical staff’?
9:14–10:52
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from The Headlines
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