The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has announced the arrest of a 24-year-old Dutch man suspected of being one of the leaders of the ShinyHunters hacking group. The group recently claimed responsibility for breaching the FBI’s recruitment website, FBIJobs.gov, and was previously linked to the April 2026 cyberattack on Rockstar Games.
FBI Director Kash Patel said the arrest was carried out through a joint operation between the Dutch High Tech Crime Unit and the FBI. Dutch police added that the man is separately suspected of plotting two murders, though those allegations are unrelated to the ShinyHunters investigation. A court has ordered that he remain in custody for another 90 days.
Authorities have not officially identified the suspect. Reuters, however, reported that the arrested man is cybersecurity professional Pepijn van der Stap, who was convicted of data theft and extortion in 2023 and released from prison in December 2025. ShinyHunters has denied that Van der Stap is affiliated with the group.
ShinyHunters takes its name from Shiny Pokemon. When the group defaced the FBI recruitment website on September 22, it replaced the original page with an image of Umbreon. Van der Stap had also previously used “Umbreon” as an alias while selling stolen data on cybercrime forums.
ShinyHunters claims it stole approximately 2 to 3 TB of data involving FBI employees and job applicants, including names, addresses, phone numbers, assignments, and family information. The FBI has not yet confirmed the full extent of the alleged breach.
The group also claimed in April 2026 that it had obtained Rockstar Games data through a third-party service. Rockstar Games confirmed at the time that a small amount of non-critical corporate information had been accessed, but said players were unaffected and that there was no evidence the source code or game files for GTA 6 had been stolen.
via： Dexerto