March 27, 2026 | Washington, D.C.
Iran-linked hackers calling themselves the Handala Hack Team breached the personal email inbox of FBI Director Kash Patel. The Department of Justice confirmed the breach to Reuters on Friday.
The group published photographs of Patel and his purported resume on their website, U.S. News & World Report, openly boasting about the attack. Handala declared that Patel “will now find his name among the list of successfully hacked victims.”
A Justice Department official confirmed that the material posted online appeared to be authentic. The FBI has not provided any comment.
Reuters reviewed a sample of the uploaded material. It appears to show a mix of personal and work correspondence dating between 2010 and 2019. Reuters could not immediately authenticate all the published emails.
Western cybersecurity researchers consider Handala to be one of several online personas used by Iranian government-linked cyberintelligence units. The group describes itself as a pro-Palestinian collective and has previously claimed responsibility for cyberattacks on US. companies.
Just over a week ago, the Justice Department seized four domains linked to Handala’s operations to disrupt Iranian hacking schemes. Patel himself responded boldly at the time, saying, “We took down four of their operation’s pillars, and we’re not done.”
The hack came just one day after Handala also claimed it breached US. defense giant Lockheed Martin. Cybersecurity analysts have warned of rising Iranian cyberattacks following US. and Israeli air strikes on Iran that began on February 28.
The Gmail address the hackers claim they accessed matches an address previously linked to Patel in older data breaches tracked by dark web intelligence firm District 4 Labs.
“Sources: Reuters, CBS News, Newsweek, The National, WWMT/TNND“
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