The personal email of the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Kash Patel, has been hacked. Some of the material, including personal photographs and correspondence, has been made publicly available.
WHAT IS KNOWN
According to Reuters, the hacker group Handala Hack Team has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The FBI has stated that it has already taken ‘all necessary steps to mitigate potential risks’ associated with this activity. Bureau spokesperson Ben Williamson clarified that the affected data is ‘historical in nature’ and does not contain government information.
The hackers published a series of Patel’s personal photographs and an archive of over 300 emails. The disclosed materials cover the period from 2010 to 2019 and include personal correspondence, including that related to his professional activities.
WHO IS BEHIND THE ATTACK
The Handala Hack Team group positions itself as a pro-Palestinian hacker collective. Western analysts believe it may be one of the structures linked to Iranian cyber-intelligence units.
Handala has previously claimed other successful attacks:
- 11 March — hacking of Stryker, a medical equipment supplier from Michigan;
- 26 March — publication of personal data of employees of the defence company Lockheed Martin stationed in the Middle East.
Experts link the increased activity of Iranian hackers to the ongoing geopolitical conflict in the Middle East.
CHECKING THE VIRAL VIDEO
A video of a dancing man circulated on social media, which was claimed to be the only leaked video from Kash Patel’s email.
Fact-checking has shown that this video is not related to the FBI director. The clip has been publicly available since at least 2021.
CONTEXT
Cases of hacking the personal accounts of high-ranking US officials have occurred repeatedly. In 2015, the account of then-Director of the CIA John Brennan was targeted, and in 2016, the email of Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman was hacked.