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https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-disrupts-iranian-cyber-enabled-psychological-operations
https://www.thenationalnews.com/future/2026/03/27/iran-hack-fbi-kash-patel-handala/
Iran-linked Handala hacking group breached FBI and obtained Kash Patel photos
Handala, an Iran-linked hacker group, has followed through on a threat to attack the US domestic intelligence service, the FBI, hacking director Kash Patel's personal email.
Handala had said on Thursday it would carry out such a cyber attack, warning on Telegram that an FBI breach would be "coming soon."
"Soon you will realise that the FBI's security was nothing more than a joke," the group wrote.
On Friday, it posted several photos of Mr Patel and an old CV that appeared to be his.
A US ‌Justice Department official told Reuters Mr Patel's email had ​been breached and the material published online appeared authentic.
The Telegram account was deactivated or removed shortly after those posts, but a new account later emerged with another message.
Handala shared various photographs of Mr Patel, including some of him smoking a cigar.
The hack comes days after Handala claimed that US aerospace and defence company Lockheed Martin had been compromised.
"The manufacturer of the F-35, F-22, Thaad missile defence system and advanced electronic warfare systems could not even protect its own identity," the group said on Wednesday.
In a statement to The National, a Lockheed Martin representative did not confirm that its systems had been compromised.
"Lockheed Martin continues to carry out its mission-critical work in support of American and allied warfighters around the world," the statement read.
"We are aware of the reports and have policies and procedures in place to mitigate cyber threats to our business." It said that Lockheed Martin remained confident in its "multi-layered information systems".
Last week, the US Justice Department and FBI announced the seizure of several websites associated with Handala.
The filings related to the seizures also confirm that Handala was responsible for a recent cyber attack against Michigan-based medical technology company Stryker, which has more than 50,000 employees around the world.
The US alleges that Handala might also be responsible for cyber attacks on hospitals and medical services in Maryland.
“We took down four of their operation's pillars and we're not done,” said FBI director Kash Patel after the Justice Department announced the seizure of several Handala internet properties, adding that the US would “hunt down every actor behind these cowardly death threats and cyber attacks”.
Yet the seizures by the US government seem to have had little impact on the group.
“The seizure of our domains, propaganda bombardment, threats of assassination, and even the looming shadow of aerial bombardment are nothing more than the latest desperate attempts by the United States and its allies to silence the voice of Handala,” a recent post by the group on Telegram read.