The Handara Hack Team, a vigilante group, announced that it had successfully gained access to Mr Patel’s personal email account.
Published March 27, 2026
A group of Iran-linked hackers has successfully accessed the personal email of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel and shared photos and documents from U.S. officials online.
Handara Hack Team said on Friday that Patel “will find his name among the list of victims who were successfully hacked”.
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News outlets Reuters and CNN confirmed the breach, citing anonymous security officials and people familiar with the matter. The FBI and Justice Department have not yet commented on the case.
The hack appears to have resulted in some documents dating back more than 10 years. Some of the emails show Patel’s travel and business correspondence. Other photos include one in which Patel poses next to an antique sports convertible with a cigar in her mouth, and another in which she stands in front of a mirror holding a bottle of rum.
Patel is the ninth FBI director, taking office in 2025. But his leadership has been controversial, with critics accusing him of misusing federal law enforcement to pursue personal travel and President Donald Trump’s priorities.
The hacker group, which calls itself pro-Palestinian hacking vigilantes, also claimed credit for a recent cyberattack on medical equipment company Stryker.
Western researchers say the group is linked to Iranian cyber intelligence and said the attack was in retaliation for a U.S. and Israeli attack on a children’s school in Minab in southern Iran that killed more than 170 people, most of them girls.
The group said at the time that the operation marked “the beginning of a new chapter in cyber warfare.” Iran is threatening to step up attacks on Western economic interests as a form of pressure amid the US and Israel’s war against Iran.
