EXCLUSIVE-Accenture contractor removed from FBI following damaging data breach, sources say

​The Federal Bureau of Investigation removed an Accenture contractor on Monday over their role in a damaging data breach that ‌exposed sensitive personal details of thousands of bureau employees, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. In a statement to Reuters, a senior FBI official confirmed that an unidentified contractor ‌had failed to properly update — or patch — the system they were responsible for.

"To date, ‌our review has determined that the incident occurred as the result of a security failure of a platform managed by a third-party organization — after a contractor failed to implement a security patch explicitly issued ⁠to secure the ​platform," FBI cyber ⁠chief Brett Leatherman said in the statement. "As such, the FBI has removed the contractor and taken all necessary ⁠steps to both mitigate any further risk and protect our workforce." The FBI did not identify ​the platform or third-party organization, but the two sources familiar with the matter ⁠said the platform was Oracle's PeopleSoft, a human resources platform that the hacking group ShinyHunters said it exploited to break ⁠into ​the FBI's job site last month.

Oracle did not immediately reply to a request for comment. The sources also said the third-party organization was Accenture. Reuters could ⁠not immediately identify the specific contractor or determine their current employment status.

In a statement, Accenture said ⁠it was "proud to ⁠support the mission of the FBI and will continue to do so." It did not answer questions about the contractor or their ‌alleged failure to ‌patch.