Dutch Police Detain Suspected ShinyHunters Hacker Behind Alleged FBI Data Breach
Amsterdam, 29 Sept 2026. Dutch investigators have arrested a 24‑year‑old Dutchman suspected of belonging to the international hacking collective ShinyHunters, which claimed it had exfiltrated data on every FBI agent. Authorities say the suspect’s laptop held evidence of two planned murders and that he had been an inciter in the plot.
ShinyHunters, first identified in France, have already toppled high‑profile targets such as Rockstar Games and the learning platform Canvas. In September they announced that a vulnerability in Oracle Cloud storage let them breach multiple FBI systems – including the personnel database, the background‑check service, the medical‑record store and the investigative‑broad‑area system.
The group’s own message, published on the dark web, stated it was not after money, but opposed an FBI advisory that branded it a “threat actor.” The FBI’s Public Service Announcement, still live on the agency’s website, warns that ShinyHunters can request payments by masquerading as having illicit access.
Police statements – Dutch law‑enforcement spokesperson Stan Duijf said: “It is encouraging that we can now arrest a suspect in this investigation.” FBI Director Kash Patel thanked Dutch partners and said teams worldwide were “actively working…to obtain and execute more leads.” Brett Leatherman urged the group to surrender, warning that staying underground only deepens the breach.
The arrest came on 15 Sep, before the alleged FBI hack on 21 Sep. Dutch officials do not rule out further captures. The FBI remains on high alert, signalling that the incident could be part of a broader transnational cyber‑crime network.
Sources: Dutch police, FBI statements, BBC coverage of the data excerpts, ShinyHunters’s own postings.
