A foreign hacker broke into a server at the FBI's New York Field Office and 'compromised files relating to the FBI's investigation of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein' in 2023, Reuters reports.
According to the FBI, the intrusion was an "isolated" cyber incident - though not to be confused with a different cybersecurity oncident involving a sensitive internal network used to manage wiretaps and FISA warrants.
"The FBI restricted access to the malicious actor and rectified the network. The investigation remains ongoing, so we do not have further comments to provide at this time," the agency said in a statement.
Reuters' source claimed that the intrusion 'appeared' to be carried out by an individual cybercriminal as opposed to a foreign government (source: trust us bro, we're here to help).
The official story: The hack occurred after a server at the Child Exploitation Forensic Lab in the FBI's NY Field Office was inadvertently left vulnerable by Special Agent Aaron Spivack - who was attempting to figure out how to handle digital evidence within the bureau's system.
A timeline written by Spivack and included in the large cache of Epstein documents released earlier this year said the break-in happened on February 12, 2023. It was discovered the following day when Spivack turned on his computer and discovered a text file warning him that his network had been compromised, according to that document.
Further investigation turned up traces of unusual activity on the server, the document said, adding that the activity "included combing through certain files pertaining to the Epstein investigation.” -Reuters
The report does not say which specific files were accessed, whether the hacker actually downloaded anything, or who the hacker was, nor could Reuters determine what overlap, if any, the affected files had with the recent DOJ Epstein file drops.
The hacker expressed 'disgust at the presence of child abuse images on the device and left a message threatening to turn its owner over to the FBI,' not realizing that they had accessed the actual FBI. They eventually convinced the hacker, who joined a video chat where they flashed their law enforcement credentials in front of a web camera.
Spivak says he's being made "a scapegoat for the intrusion," and that conflicting FBI policies and poor guidance around informational technology were to blame.
Interestingly, Spivak was mentioned in an Epstein files email from after the financier's death, which was sent to multiple recipients. In, someone says:
Hi team,
Aaron Spivak from the FBI (cc'd) has a new file for the Maxwell case that he needs to send to us. Would one of you please coordinate with him to get it via USAfx, then let me know when we have it?
Thanks so much,
EFTA00154980
The FBI breach was first reported by CNN and Reuters on February 17, however the Epstein connection was made by the French magazine Marianne.
Epstein, who was recording his many 'guests' according to photos and testimony, pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting sex from an underage girl, and was later found dead in his jail cell in 2019 after his prison guard googled him shortly before he was found, after depositing so much cash in her bank account that the bank filed suspicious activity reports. Then there was that mysterious 4chan post 38 minutes before Epstein's death had been officially announced - not only announcing the death, but suggesting that Epstein was 'switched out.'