FBI Director Kash Patel‘s personal email account was hacked by an Iran-linked group, the Handala Hack Team, which claimed responsibility on Friday (US time). A trove of Kash Patel emails, containing personal photographs, financial details, and private messages, subsequently began circulating online. According to Israeli cybersecurity firm Check Point Software Technologies Ltd, the leaked material was predominantly personal in nature.
Responding to the incident, the FBI issued a statement saying it “is aware of malicious actors targeting Director Patel’s personal email information.” The agency added that “the information in question is historical in nature and involves no government information.”
What was inside FBI Director Kash Patel’s emails?
Branding Patel one of their “successfully hacked victims,” the Handala Hack Team published a series of personal photos of the FBI director on its website.
Some showed the Indian-origin Trump administration official smoking and sniffing cigars, while another captured him riding in an antique convertible. A third showed him taking a selfie in front of a mirror while holding a large bottle of rum, as reported by Reuters.
In response, the US State Department’s Rewards for Justice programme is now offering up to $10 million for information leading to the identification of Handala Hack Team members.
The hackers, for their part, referenced the reward on Friday while posting a file they claimed contains over 320 personal emails from Patel’s inbox. According to Reuters, the entries appeared to span personal and work correspondence from 2010 to 2019.
The New York Times reported that the most recent files in the trove dated to February 2022. Since many messages were from the period when Patel applied for a position at the Justice Department’s national security division and relocated to Washington DC, the cache included job application materials. Other messages showed friends introducing him to contacts in the city.
Separately, the International Cyber Digest — citing research conducted using OSINT-powered tools for email and phone number investigations — claimed on X that Patel allegedly used multiple email usernames, including ‘Spiderkash’ and ‘Patelkpp.’
“We did some OSINT on the leaked Kash Patel email addresses (spiderkash and patelkpp) and found some interesting things. A thread…” @IntCyberDigest posted on X, alongside screenshots of the purported investigation. The account also claimed that Patel had identified himself as female on the Mindbody fitness app.
In follow-up posts, the page alleged that the FBI director drives a Toyota and has purchased fashion items in Hong Kong, citing screenshots of reviews Patel supposedly left on Google. The account further suggested he used the ‘Spiderkash’ username beyond email — including on eBay — and noted that “Kash likes GIFs and uses Snapchat” and has “a lot of leaked passwords.”
Another alleged revelation was that Patel holds an NRE (Non-Resident External) bank account in India and owns a home in Baroda.
Which group hacked Kash Patel’s emails?
The group, which presents itself as a collective of pro-Palestinian vigilante hackers, is linked to Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security, according to the US Justice Department. Last week, the FBI took down its website after Handala targeted American medical technology giant Stryker Corp in retaliation for a suspected US bombing of an Iranian school, Bloomberg reported.
In a statement on the attack, the group declared that the “so-called ‘impenetrable’ systems of the FBI were brought to their knees within hours by our team,” as quoted by the BBC. It said the hack was a direct response to the FBI’s seizure of its websites and the agency’s $10 million bounty for information on its members.
Disclaimer: The Financial Express Online cannot verify the credibility of the contents highlighted in the alleged email interactions. This article is based on viral social media discussion and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only.