Iran-linked hackers breach FBI director’s personal e-mail, publish excerpts online

WASHINGTON – Iran-linked hackers on March 27 claimed they had accessed Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel’s personal e-mail inbox, publishing photographs of the director and other documents to the internet.

On their website, the hacker group Handala Hack Team said Mr Patel “will now find his name among the list of successfully hacked victims”.

The hackers published a series of personal photographs of Mr Patel sniffing and smoking cigars, riding in an antique convertible, and making a face while taking a picture of himself in the mirror with a large bottle of rum.

A Justice Department official confirmed that Mr Patel’s e-mail had been breached and said the material published online appeared authentic.

The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The hackers did not immediately respond to messages.

Handala, which calls itself a group of pro-Palestinian vigilante hackers, is considered by Western researchers to be one of several personas used by Iranian government cyberintelligence units.

Handala recently claimed the hack of Michigan-based medical devices and services provider Stryker on March 11, claiming to have deleted a massive trove of company data.

Reuters was not able to independently authenticate the Patel e-mails, but the personal Gmail address that Handala claims to have broken into matches the address linked to Mr Patel in previous data breaches preserved by the dark web intelligence firm District 4 Labs.

Alphabet-owned Google, which runs Gmail, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A sample of the material uploaded by the hackers and reviewed by Reuters appears to show a mix of personal and work correspondence dating between 2010 and 2019. REUTERS