Pro-Iranian hacking group claims credit for hack of personal account of FBI Director Kash Patel

2026-03-27 16:54:19

WASHINGTON (AP) — A pro-Iranian hacking group claimed Friday to have hacked an account of FBI Director Kash Patel and has posted online what appear to be years-old photographs of him, along with a work resume and other personal documents. Many of those records appeared to be more than a decade old.

“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,” said a message posted Friday from the group Handala.

The message was accompanied by more than a half dozen photos of Patel, including ones of him standing beside an antique sports car and another 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. Many of the records appeared to relate to his personal travels and business from more than 10 years ago

The FBI had no immediate comment on Friday, but a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss nonpublic information confirmed that a personal email account of Patel’s had been breached. It was not clear when the hack claimed by Handala might have occurred, but news reports from December 2024 said that Patel had been informed by FBI that he had been targeted as part of an Iranian hack.

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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 prominent example of the proxy groups that carry out cyber attacks on behalf of Iran.

The Justice Department singled out Handala in an announcement last week in which it said it had seized four web domains tied to Iranian hacking schemes and the threatening of dissidents.

Associated Press writer David Klepper in Washington contributed to this report.

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