U.S. investigators believe hackers affiliated with the Chinese government breached an internal Federal Bureau of Investigation computer network that contains information on domestic surveillance orders.

The intrusion targeted an unclassified system used to manage wiretaps, foreign intelligence surveillance warrants, pen registers, and trap-and-trace orders. This network holds data on incoming and outgoing calls, IP addresses, website visits, and routing information related to criminal suspects and others under government surveillance, though it does not include the contents of communications.

The FBI detected suspicious activity through abnormal log entries on February 17, 2026, and promptly addressed the issue using all available technical capabilities. The bureau notified select members of Congress in recent days about the breach, which remains under investigation in its early stages.

Officials described the hackers' techniques as sophisticated, including the use of a commercial internet service provider's infrastructure to bypass FBI security controls. The full scope, severity, and exact data accessed have yet to be determined.

The FBI issued a brief statement: “The FBI identified and addressed suspicious activities on FBI networks, and we have leveraged all technical capabilities to respond. We have nothing additional to provide.”

The White House, National Security Agency, and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency are assisting the FBI in the probe. It is unclear if the breach connects to the Salt Typhoon group, a Chinese espionage operation previously linked to intrusions into U.S. telecommunications providers and wiretap systems starting as early as 2019.

That earlier campaign, uncovered around 2024, allowed access to vast amounts of U.S. call records and unencrypted communications of high-value targets across more than 80 countries. U.S. authorities took about five years to detect it fully, and some vulnerabilities persist despite remediation efforts.

China routinely denies involvement in cyberattacks and has accused the U.S. of similar activities. The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

This incident underscores ongoing concerns about foreign adversaries targeting U.S. law enforcement systems amid heightened cyber tensions. The FBI has faced other cybersecurity challenges recently, including staff turnover in its cyber divisions.