FBI Director Kash Patel’s personal email account was hacked, with some of his correspondence and photos leaked online by a group linked to Iran that has vowed to go after “all the enemies of Islam in the West.”
The FBI confirmed to The Daily Wire that Patel’s account was hacked, but added that “no government information” was compromised. The FBI said there is a $10 million reward for information on an Iranian group called the Handala Hack Team, which “has frequently targeted U.S. government officials.”
“The FBI is aware of malicious actors targeting Director Patel’s personal email information, and we have taken all necessary steps to mitigate potential risks associated with this activity,” the bureau said. “The information in question is historical in nature and involves no government information.”
The hackers released around 300 documents and multiple photos of Patel. The email correspondence leaked by the hackers was dated between 2010 and 2019, Reuters reported. Some of the photos leaked from Patel’s personal email include images showing Patel smoking a cigar and standing next to an antique car.
The Handala group is believed to be used by the Iranian regime to carry out cyberattacks on targets throughout the world. The hackers pledge their loyalty to “the supreme leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei” and “declare war on all the enemies of Islam in the West.” Earlier this month, Handala hackers took credit for illegally gaining access to the server of Stryker, a company in Michigan that provides medical devices.
Just last week, the Justice Department removed four websites operated by the Iranian-backed Handala group. The hackers used the websites to post sensitive stolen data. The website operators also called for “the killing of journalists, regime dissidents, and Israeli persons,” according to the Justice Department.
“Iran thought they could hide behind fake websites and keyboard threats to terrorize Americans and silence dissidents,” Patel said after the Justice Department took down Handala’s websites. “We took down four of their operation’s pillars and we’re not done. This FBI will hunt down every actor behind these cowardly death threats and cyberattacks and will bring the full force of American law enforcement down on them.”
The hack targeting Patel appears to be in response to the Justice Department’s actions, as the domain used to hack Patel’s personal email was registered on the same day the Justice Department announced its crackdown on Handala’s domains.
“Kash Patel, the current head of the FBI, who once saw his name displayed with pride on the agency’s headquarters, will now find his name among the list of successfully hacked victims,” the hackers wrote on their website. “The so-called ‘impenetrable’ systems of the FBI were brought to their knees within hours by our team.”
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