Handala Hacks FBI Director Kash Patel's Personal Email

Cyberwarfare / Nation-State Attacks , Finance & Banking , Fraud Management & Cybercrime Handala Hacks FBI Director Kash Patel's Personal Email Leak 'Involved No Government Information,' Says FBI David Perera (@daveperera) • March 27, 2026     Share Post Share Credit Eligible Get Permission FBI Director Kash Patel during his Jan. 30, 2025, nomination hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee. (Image: Maxim Elramsisy/Shutterstock) Hackers widely believed to be connected to Iranian intelligence obtained personal emails of FBI Director Kash Patel, posting online photos and other emails apparently taken from his Gmail account. See Also: The Rising Threat of Fake Business Accounts The FBI downplayed the hack, stating "the information in question is historical in nature and involves no government information." The bureau has "taken all necessary steps to mitigate potential risks associated with this activity," it said, vowing to "pursue the actors responsible." Email timestamps from early 2010 through 2019, with one posted email also dated Feb. 6, 2022. Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Iran-affiliated hacking team calling itself Handala posted Patel email records on a reconstituted website it created just hours after the FBI on March 19 seized four web domains associated with the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence (see: FBI Seizes Iranian Online Leak Sites After Stryker Hack). Handala - a suspected Iranian intelligence front - has become particularly active following the Feb. 28 initiation of a protracted bombing campaign against Iran by the United States and Israel. It took responsibility for breaking into the Active Directory of U.S. medical device maker Stryker, wiping data and disrupting order and shipping systems (See: Stryker: Cyber Incident 'Contained,' Restoration Continues). Cybersecurity experts warned early during hostilities that Tehran could respond with stepped-up hacking campaigns. The regime cut off internet access for most the country in the early hours of the bombing campaign, a blackout that has continued for 28 days straight - with allowances made for "a two-tiered system where only regime apparatchiks are allowed online," according to internet observatory NetBlocks. The Handala website has posted online subscribers to the Telegram channel belonging to a pseudonymous Iranian netizen and the putative identities of senior Israeli military and intelligence officers. It posted what it says was 851 gigabytes of confidential data from members of the Sanzer Hasidic Jewish community.