Washington (United States) (AFP) – An Iranian-linked hacker group claimed on Friday to have hacked the email account of US FBI Director Kash Patel and published personal photos and other material online. The Federal Bureau of Investigation confirmed that “malicious actors” had targeted Patel’s personal email information and said it has “taken all necessary steps to mitigate potential risks associated with this activity.”
“The information in question is historical in nature and involves no government information,” the FBI said in a statement. The State Department, meanwhile, offered a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the identification of members of the pro-Iranian hacktivist group the Handala Hack Team, which has targeted US government officials in the past.
The Justice Department warned following the February 28 launch of the US-Israeli war on Iran of potential cyberattacks by Iranian actors. The SITE Intelligence Group, an organization which monitors jihadist groups, published a statement from Handala taking credit for hacking Patel’s email.
“Today, once again, the world witnessed the collapse of America’s so-called security legends,” Handala said. “The so-called ‘impenetrable’ systems of the FBI were brought to their knees within hours by our team. All personal and confidential information of Kash Patel, including emails, conversations, documents, and even classified files, is now available for public download,” it said.
Handala said the hack was “dedicated to the martyrs of the Dena destroyer,” an Iranian navy vessel that was sunk by a US submarine earlier this month off Sri Lanka’s southern coast.
According to Check Point, an Israeli cybersecurity firm, the hacked emails date from 2010 to 2019, prior to Patel’s appointment as FBI director by President Donald Trump, and appear to come from “an old email account or cloud backup rather than an active inbox.” “Based on what we’ve seen so far from the material shared by the Iran‑linked group Handala, the data appears to consist largely of older email correspondence and personal files dating back many years, rather than evidence of an active or ongoing intrusion,” Check Point chief of staff Gil Messing said in a statement.
Personal photos of Patel were among the material released online by Handala, including pictures of him smoking cigars and posing with an antique car. The FBI and Justice Department announced the seizure a week ago of four website domains that were allegedly used by hackers affiliated with Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security. Among those seized were two domains allegedly used by Handala.
The Justice Department said the disabled websites were used for “psychological operations targeting adversaries of the regime,” posting stolen data and “calling for the killing of journalists, regime dissidents, and Israeli persons.” “Iran thought they could hide behind fake websites and keyboard threats to terrorize Americans and silence dissidents,” Patel said in a March 19 statement announcing the seizure of the domains. “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,” he added.
© 2024 AFP
