{"id":1350,"date":"2026-03-28T05:26:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T21:26:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/obagg.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/28\/kash-patels-personal-email-account-was-accessed-by-hackers-linked-to-iran\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T05:26:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T21:26:18","slug":"kash-patels-personal-email-account-was-accessed-by-hackers-linked-to-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/obagg.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/28\/kash-patels-personal-email-account-was-accessed-by-hackers-linked-to-iran\/","title":{"rendered":"Kash Patel&#8217;s personal email account was accessed by hackers linked to Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A hacking group called Handala has gained access to FBI Director Kash Patel&#8217;s email account, <a target=\"_blank\" class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/us\/iran-linked-hackers-claim-breach-of-fbi-directors-personal-email-doj-official-2026-03-27\/\" data-i13n=\"cpos:1;pos:1\"><em>Reuters<\/em> reports<\/a>. The group published content from Patel&#8217;s email on their website as proof, including photos of Patel &#8220;sniffing and smoking cigars&#8221; and &#8220;making a face while taking a picture of himself in the mirror with a \u200blarge bottle of rum.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2026\/03\/27\/iranian-hackers-claim-breach-of-fbi-director-kash-patels-personal-email-account\/\" data-i13n=\"cpos:2;pos:1\"><em>TechCrunch<\/em><\/a> was able to independently confirm that at least some of the emails Handala stole were from Patel&#8217;s account by checking information used by mail delivery systems that\u2019s stored in an email&#8217;s header. Several stolen emails included a cryptographic signature that linked them to Patel&#8217;s account. The FBI has also separately confirmed that the Director&#8217;s account was hacked. &#8220;The FBI is aware of malicious actors targeting Director Patel&#8217;s personal email information, and we have taken all necessary steps to mitigate potential risks associated with this activity,&#8221; the Bureau told <em>TechCrunch<\/em>. &#8220;The information in question is historical in nature and involves no government information.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The FBI is offering up to $10 million in rewards for more information about the hackers who targeted Patel&#8217;s account. Handala presents as a pro-Palestinian hacking group online, but is believed to be one of several aliases used by cyberintelligence units working for the Iranian government, <em>Reuters<\/em> writes. Groups affiliated with Iran have targeted officials in the US before. In August 2024, the FBI shared that a separate group, APT42, was <a target=\"_blank\" class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.engadget.com\/general\/fbi-says-iranian-hackers-are-targeting-both-presidential-campaigns-150019590.html\" data-i13n=\"cpos:3;pos:1\">trying to gain access<\/a> to both the Trump and Harris campaigns. Three men associated with APT42 were <a target=\"_blank\" class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.engadget.com\/cybersecurity\/three-men-charged-in-connection-with-the-trump-campaign-hack-191154617.html\" data-i13n=\"cpos:4;pos:1\">later charged<\/a> that September.<\/p>\n<p>Handala has appeared to become more active during <a target=\"_blank\" class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/live\/iran-war-israel-trump-03-26-2026\" data-i13n=\"cpos:5;pos:1\">the current conflict between the US, Israel and Iran<\/a>. According to <em>Reuters<\/em>, the group claimed to be behind <a target=\"_blank\" class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fiercebiotech.com\/medtech\/stryker-continues-bring-hacked-systems-back-online-after-patients-delay-surgeries\" data-i13n=\"cpos:6;pos:1\">a cyber attack on Stryker<\/a>, a medical devices company, earlier in March. Handala also said it accessed and published personal data from Lockheed Martin employees stationed in the Middle East.<\/p>\n<p>This article originally appeared on Engadget at https:\/\/www.engadget.com\/cybersecurity\/kash-patels-personal-email-account-was-accessed-by-hackers-linked-to-iran-212618474.html?src=rss<\/p><p>Please credit: <a href=\"https:\/\/obagg.com\">OBA Blog<\/a> &raquo; <a href=\"https:\/\/obagg.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/28\/kash-patels-personal-email-account-was-accessed-by-hackers-linked-to-iran\/\">Kash Patel&#8217;s personal email account was accessed by hackers linked to Iran<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A hacking group called Handala has gained access to FBI Director Kash Patel&#8217;s email account, Reuters reports. The group published content from Patel&#8217;s email on their website as proof, including photos of Patel &#8220;sniffing and smoking cigars&#8221; and &#8220;making a face while taking a picture of himself in the mirror with a \u200blarge bottle of rum.&#8221; TechCrunch was able to independently confirm that at least some of the emails Handala stole were from Patel&#8217;s account by checking information used by mail delivery systems that\u2019s stored in an email&#8217;s header. Several stolen emails included a cryptographic signature that linked them to Patel&#8217;s account. The FBI has also separately confirmed that the Director&#8217;s account was hacked. &#8220;The FBI is aware of malicious actors targeting Director Patel&#8217;s personal [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-share"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/obagg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/obagg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/obagg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/obagg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/obagg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/obagg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1350\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/obagg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/obagg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/obagg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}