KASHING OUT

Keystone Kash’s FBI Humiliation Takes a Brutal New Turn

He’s so busy sniffing out “election fraud” that he has no time to run the FBI, critics complain.

FBI Director Kash Patel has taken his eye off the ball, vainly seeking evidence of election fraud while the agency he leads has been attacked by dangerous cybercriminals, according to critics within the FBI.

A notorious group of young hackers known as ShinyHunters was discovered just over a week ago to have breached FBI computer systems. It is one of the worst counterintelligence breaches in recent history.

YES MAN

Keystone Kash Busted Admitting He’s Trump Goon’s Errand Boy

Sarah Ewall-Wice

It was ”definitely incompetence,” an FBI agent told MS NOW.

The source said the system was known to have a vulnerability that officials believed they had addressed. Google’s threat intelligence experts issued a public warning about the vulnerability back in June, two cybersecurity experts told the network.

The hack of FBI computer systems exposed tasks and highly sensitive personal information about nearly all FBI employees, as well as thousands of local law-enforcement officials who worked on FBI task forces, sources said. According to the agent, FBI investigators obtained chats in which the hackers expressed shock that the information was so easy to obtain.

Patel’s critics complained that the head of the FBI is wasting his time on nonexistent election fraud, rather than focusing on issues like terrorism and computer security.

“The FBI should be focused on real threats to our national security, from cyberattacks to terrorism. Instead, under Kash Patel, the Bureau appears increasingly focused on Trump’s voter suppression plans,” Illinois Democratic Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi complained on MS NOW.

BAD BLOOD

Disturbing Real Reason Kash Patel’s Deputy Quit

Martha McHardy

Among the files in the estimated up to 3 terabytes of stolen data are detailed medical and psychiatric evaluations of FBI personnel, Reuters reported. The records were so detailed, the BBC noted Friday, that one clearly noted an individual’s “shellfish and banana allergy.”

Such information could put agents in danger (deliberately exposing them to shellfish, for example) or reveal vulnerabilities that could be used to blackmail or manipulate agents working on sensitive investigations, threatening American security.

LOST LEADERSHIP

Agents Mock Keystone Kash After Teen Hackers Outsmart Him

Gergana Krasteva

Critics say the information was available on the internet, rather than protected within an independent FBI system.

An FBI official told MS NOW that the hack was linked to a vulnerability in software that was maintained by a third-party vendor, apparently shrugging off responsibility.

ShinyHunters reportedly gained access to the FBIJobs.gov portal through a vulnerability in the human resources software Oracle PeopleSoft.

The latest bungle comes amid a litany of screw-ups by Patel, who had no experience in the FBI or in leading any kind of law enforcement agency before Donald Trump picked him to run the FBI, whose mission is to protect the American people and uphold the Constitution of the United States.

Since he took over the agency Patel, 46, has leaked information about sensitive investigations, used an FBI jet to take his singer girlfriend Alexis Wilkins, 27, to a country music concert, and has been criticized for reports of heavy drinking.

He was caught on camera partying hard in the locker room of the U.S. Men’s Olympic Ice Hockey team after it won the gold medal in this year’s Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy. Video of Patel chugging beers with the hockey team was a notable first for an FBI director.

Play Video

Dutch police this week announced the arrest of a member of ShinyHunters. The 24-year-old Amsterdam resident is suspected of involvement in the hack and of trying to arrange two murders, according to police.

Play Video

The Daily Beast has reached out to the FBI for comment on complaints that Patel is too focused on the upcoming election, rather than on crime.

See more of our coverage in your search results.

ADD THE DAILY BEAST ON GOOGLE

Mary PapenfussReporter

Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.