The vigilante group Handala Hack Group mentioned that it had efficiently gained entry to Patel’s private electronic mail account.
Revealed On 27 Mar 2026
A gaggle of Iran-linked hackers have mentioned that they efficiently gained entry to the non-public emails of Kash Patel, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), sharing pictures and paperwork from america official on-line.
The Handala Hack Group mentioned on Friday that Patel would “will now discover his identify among the many record of efficiently hacked victims”.
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The information retailers Reuters and CNN confirmed the breach, citing unnamed safety officers and other people conversant in the matter. The FBI and Division of Justice have but to touch upon the incident.
The hacking seems to have launched some paperwork greater than a decade outdated. Among the emails present Patel’s journey and enterprise correspondence. Others embrace pictures of Patel beside an vintage sports activities convertible, posing with a cigar in his mouth and standing in entrance of a mirror with a bottle of rum.
Patel is the ninth director of the FBI, and he started his tenure in 2025. However his management has been marked by controversy, with critics accusing him of misusing the federal legislation enforcement company for private journey and to hold out President Donald Trump’s priorities.
The hacking group, which describes itself as pro-Palestinian hacking vigilantes, additionally claimed credit score for a recent cyberattack on the medical system firm Stryker.
The group, which Western researchers have mentioned is linked to Iranian cyberintelligence, mentioned that the assault was in retaliation for the US-Israeli strike on a children’s school in Minab in southern Iran that killed greater than 170 folks, most of them schoolgirls.
The group mentioned on the time that the operation marked “the start of a brand new chapter in cyber warfare”. Iran has threatened to step up assaults on Western financial pursuits as a type of stress amid the US-Israel conflict in opposition to the nation.
