Iranian group claims to have hacked FBI Director Kash Patel's email
The Handala Hack Team group, linked by the Justice Department to the Iranian Intelligence Ministry, claimed to have accessed the email of the director of the intelligence bureau.
FBI Director Kash Patel during an appearance.
A group of hackers linked to Iran claimed to have accessed the personal email of Kash Patel, director of the FBI. The Handala Hack Team published on its website photographs and other documents that allegedly belong to the hacked account of the top homeland security official, according to initial reports from Reuters.
The news agency claimed that a Department of Justice (DOJ) official had confirmed the hack, and had further indicated that the materials released appeared authentic. However, at the moment neither the DOJ nor the FBI confirmed these reports.
The group claimed that the cyberattack was in response to an intelligence bureau operation in which several of its domains were seized. That federal operation was in response to another attack by the Handala Hack Team against U.S. interests, specifically against the Michigan-based technology company Stryker.
Since the start of the war in Iran, Iranian forces have explored cyberattacks in retaliation in their attempts to strike where their missiles and drones can't reach.
What is the Handala Hack Team?
This group is used by the Iranian regime to carry out psychological operations and transnational repression schemes directed against its adversaries. Its main activities, also according to official U.S. sources, include:
- Cyber attacks and malware: the group uses destructive malware against various entities, as in the attack against Stryker.
- Data theft and leakage (Doxxing): Handala Hack publishes personally identifiable information (PII) of their targets to harass them. They have leaked data on approximately 190 individuals associated with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Israeli government, as well as 851 gigabytes of sensitive data from the Sanzer Hasidic Jewish community.
- Threats of death and violence: the team uses e-mails (such as handala_team@outlook.com) to send death threats to Iranian dissidents and journalists living abroad. In their messages, they declare themselves "loyal followers of the supreme leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei" and have gone so far as to offer rewards of up to $250,000 for the execution of their targets, even attempting to seek "partners" in drug cartels such as the CJNG to commit acts of violence.
- Repression and smearing: they seek to intimidate, shame and discredit those who publicly criticize the Iranian government in order to silence dissent and discourage independent journalism.
In March 2026, the Department of Justice announced the seizure of domains used by this group, specifically handala-hack[.]to and handala-redwanted[.]to, as part of an effort to dismantle the ayatollahs' regime's cyberwarfare infrastructure.
LATEST
