A hacking group known as Handala, believed to be affiliated with Iranian cyberintelligence units, has breached the personal email account of FBI Director Kash Patel. The group published photos and emails from the account as proof of the hack, which the FBI and Department of Justice have confirmed involved only historical personal information. The breach follows recent U.S. actions against the group's websites and Patel's public threats to pursue them.
FBI Director Kash Patel's personal email account was hacked by the Handala hacking group, which U.S. officials and researchers link to Iranian government cyber units. The group, presenting itself as pro-Palestinian, posted screenshots of emails and photos from Patel's Gmail account on its website, including images of him sniffing and smoking cigars, making faces in the mirror with a large bottle of rum, and holding a jug of rum. The leaked materials date from 2010 to 2019, according to Reuters reports verifying the account through prior data breaches and email headers confirmed by TechCrunch. Cryptographic signatures in the emails further tied them to Patel's account. The FBI stated, 'The FBI is aware of malicious actors targeting Director Patel's personal email information, and we have taken all necessary steps to mitigate potential risks associated with this activity. The information in question is historical in nature and involves no government information.' The Department of Justice suggested the emails appeared authentic. Handala claimed the hack as retaliation after the DOJ seized four of its domains earlier this month. In a press release, Patel vowed to 'hunt down every actor behind these cowardly death threats and cyberattacks' and announced rewards of up to $10 million for information on the group. 'Iran thought they could hide behind fake websites and keyboard threats to terrorize Americans and silence dissidents,' Patel said. 'We took down four of their operation’s pillars and we’re not done.' The group declared, 'We the Handala Hack team, the loyal followers of the supreme leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei, declare war on all the enemies of Islam in the West.' Handala has claimed other recent attacks, including on medical device maker Stryker and Lockheed Martin employees in the Middle East, amid heightened U.S.-Israel-Iran tensions.
