Iran-linked hackers have gained access to FBI Director Kash Patel’s personal email account, releasing a cache of photographs and documents online. Both the hacker group and the bureau confirmed the breach on Friday.
On its website, the group calling itself Handala Hack Team said Patel “will now find his name among the list of successfully hacked victims.” The hackers went on to post a set of personal images, including photos of Patel sniffing and smoking cigars, riding in an antique convertible, and pulling a face in a mirror selfie while holding a large bottle of rum.
The FBI said Kash Patel’s emails had indeed been targeted. In a statement, bureau spokesman Ben Williamson said, “we have taken all necessary steps to mitigate potential risks associated with this activity,” adding that the material accessed was “historical in nature and involves no government information.”
Handala, which describes itself as a pro-Palestinian vigilante hacking group, is viewed by Western cybersecurity researchers as one of several fronts used by Iranian state-linked cyber units. The group recently claimed responsibility for a breach involving Michigan-based medical devices company Stryker on March 11, saying it had wiped out a large volume of the firm’s data.
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Along with the photographs of Patel, the hackers released a sample of more than 300 emails, appearing to include a mix of personal and professional exchanges from 2010 to 2019.
Reuters could not independently verify the authenticity of the messages. However, the personal Gmail account that Handala claims to have accessed matches an address previously linked to Patel in earlier data breaches tracked by dark web intelligence firm District 4 Labs. Google, owned by Alphabet, did not respond to a request for comment.
Iran-linked hacking groups, which had initially stayed relatively quiet after the United States and Israel carried out coordinated strikes against the Islamic Republic last month, have grown more vocal as tensions continue. Beyond the alleged Stryker breach, Handala said on Thursday that it had published personal data belonging to dozens of Lockheed Martin employees based in the Middle East. The company said it was aware of the reports and had measures in place “to mitigate cyber threats to our business.”
Gil Messing, chief of staff at Israeli cybersecurity firm Check Point, said the breach and subsequent leak appeared to be part of a broader Iranian strategy to publicly embarrass U.S. officials and “make them feel vulnerable.”
“The Iranians are firing whatever they have,” he said, suggesting a broad and opportunistic approach to cyber operations.
Targeting the personal email accounts of senior officials is not new. Such breaches, followed by selective leaks, have surfaced repeatedly over the years. During the 2016 U.S. election, hackers accessed Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta’s Gmail account and released a large volume of emails through WikiLeaks. A year earlier, teenage hackers broke into then CIA director John Brennan’s personal AOL account, exposing information linked to U.S. intelligence personnel.
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