Cyber criminals linked to Iran have accessed FBI Director Kash Patel’s personal email account, sources familiar with the matter told CBS News Friday.
An FBI spokesperson did not have an immediate comment.
The breach was first reported by Reuters, which said the hacker group Handala HackTeam took credit for the attack and posted images online of the FBI director and his purported resume.
Just over a week ago, the Justice Department announced that a domain used by Handala HackTeam was one of four domains it had seized as part of an effort to disrupt Iranian hacking and transnational repression schemes.
According to the department’s press release, an FBI investigation said the four sites carried out cyber attacks, and “‘faketivist’ psychological operations using data stolen via hacking.”
Patel’s statement in the release said, “We took down four of their operation’s pillars and we’re not done. This FBI will hunt down every actor behind these cowardly death threats and cyberattacks and will bring the full force of American law enforcement down on them.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.