Iranian hackers breach FBI director’s email, leak 10 years of personal data
Photo: US FBI Director Kash Patel (Getty Images)
Hackers linked to Iran have breached the personal email of FBI Director Kash Patel and released part of the correspondence publicly, according to Reuters, the breach was confirmed by a US Department of Justice spokesperson.
What happened
The hacking was claimed by the group Handala Hack Team. On their website, the hackers wrote that Patel "will now find his name among the list of successfully hacked victims."
A US Department of Justice official confirmed that the FBI director’s personal email account was indeed compromised. The materials that appeared online appear to be genuine.
The FBI did not respond to a request for comment. The hackers have also not made contact.
Who Handala are
Handala presents itself as a pro-Palestinian hacker group. However, Western cybersecurity researchers believe it is one of several aliases used by Iranian government cyberintelligence units.
Recently, the same group claimed to have hacked the US medical company Stryker in Michigan, asserting that they deleted a significant amount of the company’s data.
What exactly was leaked online
Reuters was unable to independently verify the authenticity of the emails. However, the personal Gmail address that Handala claims to have hacked matches the address linked to Patel in previous data leaks, according to District 4 Labs, a dark web intelligence company.
Among the published materials, Reuters reports, are personal photos of the FBI director and emails — both personal and work-related. The emails are dated from 2010 to 2019.
Recently, hackers targeted Iranian government services and media amid US and Israeli strikes. The wave of cyberattacks also affected popular apps, displaying the message "The time of reckoning has come."
Earlier, cybercriminals also hacked the messenger used by White House and Secret Service officials, which was accessed by dozens of US government personnel.
