A Foreign Hacker Accessed FBI Files on Epstein Back in 2023: Report

Calls for the release of the closely guarded Epstein files have persisted since the New York financier and accused sex trafficker was found dead in his jail cell in 2019. It took until 2025 for some of those files to be officially released to the public.

But new reporting claims that some FBI files tied to the Epstein investigation were accessed by a foreign hacker all the way back in 2023.

Reuters reported today, citing an unnamed source and recently released Justice Department documents, that a foreign cybercriminal accessed the files during a breach at the bureau’s New York Field Office.

The breach itself was first reported by Reuters and CNN last month, but new details about who accessed the system and how the intrusion happened were reported today.

The news comes as the gradual release of Epstein files has revealed how deeply the disgraced financier was connected to some of the world’s wealthiest and most politically powerful figures, sparking investigations and even resignations in multiple countries. The incident also serves as a reminder that not even the FBI is immune to cyber break-ins. As hackers become more sophisticated, breaches involving government systems raise concerns about how sensitive investigative files could be accessed and potentially exploited by malicious actors.

The hack took place after a server at the Child Exploitation Forensic Lab in the FBI’s New York Field Office was reportedly left vulnerable by Special Agent Aaron Spivack, according to Reuters.

A timeline written by Spivack, reviewed by Reuters, and included in the released Epstein files, shows that the hack occurred on February 12, 2023. It was discovered the next day when Spivack found a text file warning that the network had been compromised.

An investigation later found traces of unusual activity, including someone “combing through certain files pertaining to the Epstein investigation,” according to the timeline.

Spivack told internal investigators at the time that he was being made “a scapegoat for the intrusion,” arguing that complicated and conflicting IT policies were the actual culprit.

Reuters’s unnamed source claims the hacker did not realize they had breached a government server and even threatened to report the server’s owner to the FBI after encountering child abuse images. The agency was eventually able to convince the hacker that they were speaking with the Bureau after inviting them to a video chat and showing their credentials.

The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Gizmodo, but it told Reuters that the “cyber incident” was ”an isolated one.”

“The FBI restricted access to the malicious actor and rectified the network,” the bureau added. The investigation remains ongoing, so we do not have further comments to provide at this time.”