Cyber hackers linked to Iran have begun leaking photos from the personal email account of Kash Patel, the director of the FBI.
The group, calling itself the Handala Hack Team, posted a number of photographs and private correspondence that appeared to be related to the breach on its website, mocking the FBI’s security as “nothing more than a joke.”
An FBI spokesperson confirmed that Patel’s email had been breached by “malicious actors” and offered a $10 million reward for information leading to the identification of Handala group members. A US Justice Department official said the material published online appeared authentic.
The images as they appear on Handala’s Telegram account
The website used by the Handala Hack Team Raphael Satter/Reuters
The incident raised serious concerns about cybersecurity at the highest levels of US law enforcement.
Handala posted a statement on the encrypted messaging app Telegram, reading: “This is the security that the US government boasts about?! This is the cyber giant that thinks threats and bribes can silence the voice of resistance?! To the whole world, we declare: the FBI is just a name, and behind this name, there is no real security.”
The organisation warned “this is just our beginning”.
Security experts have been warning since the US and Israel first unleashed a campaign of airstrikes across Iran in late February that Iran and Iranian-backed groups could carry out disruptive cyberattacks against Western targets.
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 responsibility for the hack of Michigan-based medical devices and services provider Stryker on March 11, claiming to have deleted a massive trove of company data.
The Times was not able to independently authenticate the Patel emails, but the personal Gmail address that Handala claims to have broken into matches the address linked to Patel in previous data breaches preserved by the dark web intelligence firm District 4 Labs.
The hacking group called it a breach of “impenetrable” FBI systems, however, there is no great difficulty in accessing the personal email account of a private citizen, which is what Patel was before being appointed director of the bureau last year.
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A sample of the material uploaded by the hackers appears to show a mix of personal and work correspondence dating between 2010 and 2019, a copy of his CV, and private photographs taken years before he was appointed by President Trump to lead the bureau.
One photograph appears to show Patel sniffing a cigar, another shows him posing next to a jet.
Patel has faced criticism during his tenure as director. Concerns have been raised about his use of a government-funded jet for personal travel, including a trip to Italy and a trip to watch his girlfriend perform at a wrestling event. He also faced criticism for partying with the US men’s hockey team after they won the gold medal at the Winter Olympics.
Dizzy-Dean72 on March 27th, 2026 at 17:03 UTC »
What does that say about the ability of the current FBI director to not click on phishing emails.
Rickbox on March 27th, 2026 at 16:46 UTC »
I believe Trump cut funding and personnel to the government's cyber division and also reduced security for Russia.
Zealousideal_Look275 on March 27th, 2026 at 16:34 UTC »
This is a classic warning shot, we all know Iran has nudes and pictures of him doing drugs