Washington, February 18: The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has admitted it was hit by a malicious cyber incident on its own network, and was investigating the isolated incident.

According to CNN, the FBI has been investigating and working to contain a cyber incident on part of its computer network in recent days. "The FBI is aware of the incident and is working to gain additional information. This is an isolated incident that has been contained," the US agency said in a statement. Data Breach: Google Fi Confirms Personal Data Stolen in Recent Cyberattack.

"As this is an ongoing investigation, the FBI does not have further comment to provide at this time," the agency spokesperson added. According to the report, citing sources, "FBI officials believe the incident involved an FBI computer system used in investigations of images of child sexual exploitation".

It was not immediately clear when the intrusion occurred, or how the FBI was compromised. In 2021, hackers compromised the FBI computers and sent thousands of fake emails. Data Breach: Indian Government Sector Top Target for Hackers As Cyber-Attacks Rise by 95% in Second Half of 2022.

The fbi.gov domain name and Internet address were used to send thousands of fake emails about a cybercrime investigation. The FBI said at the time that it fixed a software vulnerability related to the incident.

"The impacted hardware was taken offline quickly upon discovery of the issue. We continue to encourage the public to be cautious of unknown senders," the agency had said.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 18, 2023 11:37 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).