Iran-linked group claims hack of FBI drones, threatens World Cup, monitor says

An Iran-linked hacker group claims to have breached FBI drones and has threatened to target the World Cup that kicked off on Thursday, a monitoring group said Friday.

The SITE Intelligence Group, an organization that monitors jihadist groups, published a statement from Handala saying they’ve had access “for months” to “every image and every suspect” captured by first-person view (FPV) drones used by the FBI.

The hackers said the drones featured facial recognition and license plate screening deployed for counterterrorism.

“Better tighten your World Cup security, we don’t like some of those teams at all. Don’t forget: FPVs are everywhere; you never know when one might end up right in your team’s bus,” Handala said in the statement quoted by SITE.

The FBI is deploying drones around World Cup stadiums to protect against unauthorized aircraft.

Drone flights will be banned over U.S. stadiums hosting matches, as well as over fan events related to the tournament.

The Justice Department has previously warned of the potential for cyberattacks by Iranian actors following the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Tehran in February that triggered the Middle East War.

Handala published photos and footage that it said were taken from the hacked drones, but SITE disputed that claim.

One video of the supposed hack was in fact produced by a software platform in December 2024 to promote a U.S. police department’s use of its technology for surveying tornado damage, SITE said.

Handala claimed in March to have hacked the email account of FBI Director Kash Patel and published personal photos and other material online.

The State Department has offered a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the identification of members of the group.