Iranian hackers publish emails allegedly stolen from Kash Patel

Iranian hackers publish emails allegedly stolen from Kash Patel Hundreds of emails and photos from what appears to be FBI Director Kash Patel’s personal email account were published Friday by an Iran-linked hacking group. Listen to this article with a free account 00:00 00:00 FBI Director Kash Patel on Feb. 6 in Washington, D.C. Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images file Share Add NBC News to Google March 27, 2026, 12:37 PM EDT By Kevin Collier Pro-Iran hackers published more than 300 emails and photos Friday from what appears to be a personal email account for FBI director Kash Patel. The hacking group, called Handala, indicated on its website that the leak was retaliation after the FBI and Justice Department seized several of its websites last week, accusing the group of “psychological operations” and saying it was a front for Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security. The State Department offered a reward of up to $10 million for information on Iranian hackers threatening U.S. critical infrastructure. Earlier this month, Handala took credit for the sole significant destructive cyberattack against an American company, medical tech supplier Stryker, since the war between the country, the U.S. and Israel began. The Justice Department declined to comment. The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment. NBC News did not forensically verify all the emails were authentic. The group published several photos of Patel on its website that do not appear to have previously been made public, according to an NBC News review through several reverse-image searches. The emails appear to have been sent from or to a personal Gmail account that is listed as belonging to Patel in at least one public government document. Gmail didn’t respond to a request for comment. Handala posted on its Telegram channel Thursday that “The FBI shouldn’t have started a confrontation and conflict with us,” and said it would soon post evidence of “the biggest security breach of the past decade.” ...