Iranian hackers hacked Kash Patel’s email, but not the FBI’s

But Handala’s second claim, that of infiltrating the FBI, currently appears to be pure fantasy. All evidence points to Handala having hacked Patel’s older personal Gmail account. Widely believed to be a “hacker operative” front for Iran’s intelligence agency (Ministry of Intelligence and Homeland Security), Handala noted on his website that the emails contained classified information, but the messages initially reviewed by WIRED did not appear to be linked to any government action. However, TechCrunch found that Patel apparently forwarded some emails from his DOJ email account to his Gmail account in 2014.

Handala, described by WIRED magazine’s cybersecurity experts as an “opportunistic” hacking group whose cyberattacks and breaches are often calculated more for their propaganda value than their tactical impact, nonetheless made the most of Patel’s embarrassing hack. The group wrote in its statement: “To the whole world, we announce: The FBI is just a name, and behind this name there is no real security.” “If your boss can be compromised so easily, what do you expect from your lower-level employees?”

Handala hackers offer a reward of $50 million to anyone who brings the heads of Trump and Netanyahu

For more evidence of Handala’s rhetoric, look no further than another post on his website earlier this week (we’re intentionally not linking to it) offering a $50 million bounty to anyone who can “eliminate” US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “This large reward will be awarded, directly and securely, to any individual or group brave enough to show real action against tyranny,” the hackers’ statement read, along with inviting any potential killers to communicate via the encrypted messaging app Session. “All our communication and payment channels use the latest encryption and anonymization technologies, ensuring your complete safety and confidentiality.”

Handala explained that this reward was published in response to a statement about Handala published on the US Department of Justice website last week that offered $10 million for information leading to the identity or location of anyone carrying out “malicious cyber activities against critical infrastructure of the United States” on behalf of a foreign government.

“Our message is clear: If you really have the will and the strength, come find us!” Hanzala wrote in his response: He added: “We are not afraid of any challenge and are ready to respond to every attack with greater force.”

In another post on her website this week, Handala also alleged that he harassed 28 engineers at the military company Lockheed Martin operating in Israel and threatened them with personal harm if they did not leave the country within 48 hours. When WIRED tried to contact the phone numbers listed in Handala’s leaked data, most of them did not work.

Apple says no device with the Lockdown Mode security feature enabled has been successfully compromised by mercenary spyware in the nearly four years since its launch. The head of Amnesty International’s Security Lab, Donncha Ó Cearbhaill, says his team has found no evidence of a successful attack against an iPhone equipped with Lockdown Mode. Citizen Lab, which has documented several successful spyware attacks against iPhones, says none involved bypassing Lockdown Mode, while in two cases its researchers found that the feature actively prevented attacks against NSO Group’s Pegasus and Intellexa’s Predator. Meanwhile, Google researchers have discovered a strain of spyware that simply abandons infection attempts when it detects that the feature is enabled.

Lock Mode works by disabling commonly exploited iPhone features, such as most types of message attachments and features such as links and link previews. Incoming FaceTime calls are blocked unless the user has previously contacted that person within the last 30 days. When your iPhone is locked, it prevents communication with computers and accessories. The device will not automatically join unsecured Wi-Fi networks, and 2G and 3G support is disabled. Apple has also doubled the rewards for researchers who discover any bypass of Lockdown Mode, with payouts of up to $2 million.