Hackers access FBI email system, send spam to thousands

Hackers accessed the Federal Bureau of Investigation's external email system and sent spam to thousands of people Saturday, according to the Spamhaus Project, an email spam watchdog group.

Why it matters: The cybersecurity debacle highlights the vulnerabilities of email communication, the Washington Post writes. While online entities often claim to be official sources, a hacker compromising a government server is "highly unusual."

• The compromised system was a server used by FBI personnel to communicate unclassified information outside of the organization, according to the Post.
• The spam emails referenced an international hacker group called the Dark Overlord and did not contain malicious attachments.

What they're saying: "This is an ongoing situation, and we are not able to provide any additional information at this time," the FBI said in a statement.

• "The impacted hardware was taken offline quickly upon discovery of the issue."
• "We continue to encourage the public to be cautious of unknown senders and urge you to report suspicious activity to ic3.gov or cisa.gov," the statement continued.