Teen says he hacked into CIA director's email account

CIA Director John Brennan.
(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The FBI is looking into an anonymous hacker's claim that he gained access to CIA Director John Brennan's private email account and stole several files, U.S. officials said Monday.

The documents apparently include a list of Social Security and phone numbers of senior U.S. national security officers, a log of calls made by a former CIA deputy director, and email contacts from Brennan's AOL account, The Washington Post reports. A CIA spokesman said the agency is aware of the reports "and have referred the matter to the appropriate authorities." Officials say the Secret Service is also looking into claims that the hacker was able to extract private information from Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson's Comcast account.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.