FBI Director Kash Patel's personal email account has been hacked by an Iran-linked group, the agency has confirmed. A group, known as the Handala Hack Team, shared Patel's purported resume and photos of him on its website on Friday along with a statement that says: This is just our beginning. The FBI said it was aware of malicious actors targeting Patel's email information. The information in question is historical in nature and involves no government information. The agency is offering up to $10m (£7.5m) for information that helps in identifying members of the Handala group. Iranian-backed hackers were reported to have breached Patel's private communications in 2024, weeks before he was appointed to lead the FBI. It is not clear if that breach was different from the one claimed by the Handala group on Friday. Photos Handala claims to have taken from Patel's email account have been circulating on social media with the group's logo added as a watermark. The photos show Patel at various unidentified locations, including standing beside a vintage convertible, smiling next to a jet, smoking and sniffing cigars, taking a selfie next to a bottle of liquor, and posing in what appear to be restaurants and hotels. The BBC has not independently verified the leaked documents. Cynthia Kaiser, senior vice-president at Halcyon Ransomware Research Center, told the BBC that Friday's release was likely from a historical breach. The emails look very old and that makes me believe that this is likely a compromise that occurred from other groups in another time period and is recycled today, Kaiser said. The Handala group claimed in its statement that the so-called 'impenetrable' systems of the FBI were brought to their knees within hours by our team. Experts say this kind of operation on a senior U.S. government official may not take much sophistication to achieve. Personal accounts don't have the same level of protection and alerting as government systems, so these are often an attractive target for hackers, said Dave Schroeder, director of National Security Initiatives at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Last week, the U.S. Justice Department seized several Handala domain names it says were involved in hacking schemes linked to the Islamic Republic of Iran. The domain used to carry out the hack against Patel was registered the same day the justice department announced it had seized the four domains associated with the group. Handala claimed this hack in retaliation for the FBI's seizure of its websites, as well as for the reward offered for information on similar malicious attacks.
Iran-Linked Hackers Target FBI Director Kash Patel's Emails
Iran-Linked Hackers Target FBI Director Kash Patel's Emails
FBI Director Kash Patel's personal email has been hacked by a group called the Handala Hack Team, claiming to expose the vulnerabilities of U.S. government security systems. The FBI is aware and offering a reward for information on the hackers.
A group named the Handala Hack Team, linked to Iran, has reportedly breached the personal email account of FBI Director Kash Patel. They shared sensitive information including his resume and personal photos, claiming it's just the beginning of their operations. The FBI confirms awareness of the breach but states no government information was compromised. They're offering a reward for information about the hackers, and experts believe this attack demonstrates vulnerabilities in personal email security.
