A professional-Iranian hacking group claimed Friday to have hacked an account of FBI Director Kash Patel and has posted online what look like years-old photographs of him, together with a piece resume and other personal documents. Lots of those records seemed to be greater than a decade old.
“Kash Patel, the present head of the FBI, who once saw his name displayed with pride on the agency’s headquarters, will now find his name among the many list of successfully hacked victims,” said a message posted Friday from the group Handala.
The message was accompanied by greater than a half dozen photos of Patel, including ones of him standing beside an antique sports automotive and one other with a cigar in his mouth. The group also said that it was making available for download emails and other documents from Patel’s account. Lots of the records appeared to relate to his personal travels and business from greater than 10 years ago
“The FBI is aware of malicious actors targeting Director Patel’s personal email information, and we’ve got taken all mandatory steps to mitigate potential risks related to this activity,” the FBI said in a press release. “The knowledge in query is historical in nature and involves no government information.”
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It was not clear when the hack claimed by Handala might need occurred. News reports from December 2024, before Patel was confirmed as director, said that Patel had been informed by FBI that he had been targeted as a part of an Iranian hack.
Handala is a pro-Iranian, pro-Palestinian hacking group that earlier this month claimed credit for disrupting systems at Stryker, a Michigan-based medical technology company. Handala said the attack was in retaliation for suspected U.S. strikes that killed Iranian schoolchildren. They’re a distinguished example of the proxy groups that perform cyber attacks on behalf of Iran.
The Justice Department singled out Handala in an announcement last week wherein it said it had seized 4 web domains tied to Iranian hacking schemes and the threatening of dissidents.
The Trump administration is offering a reward of as much as $10 million for information resulting in the identification of members of the Handala hacking group.
Associated Press author David Klepper in Washington contributed to this report.
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