‘Reformed hacker’ busted over links to group behind FBI breach

ShinyHunters has denied any connection to the suspect, while media reports suggest he may have been framed by rival hackers FBI Director Kash Patel and Dutch police have announced the arrest of a high-profile hacker suspected of being a leader of ShinyHunters, a cybercrime group that recently claimed to have stolen data on “almost all” FBI agents.Dutch authorities first disclosed the arrest on Monday, before officials in both countries confirmed it on Tuesday. Patel described ShinyHunters as a “global cybercrime and threat actor group linked to cyberattacks in the United States, the Netherlands, and around the world.”Dutch police said the suspect was arrested on September 15 on suspicion of cybercrime offenses and attempting to instigate at least two murders abroad. US and Dutch officials said further arrests in the case could follow.Neither agency identified the suspect. However, Benjamin Korper, head of Amsterdam-based cybersecurity firm Neo Security, said the person arrested was the company’s offensive security lead, Pepijn van der Stap. Korper said Van der Stap had been carefully vetted after his release from prison in December 2025 and before joining the company, adding that h...