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

WASHINGTON – An Iran-linked hacker group claims to have breached Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) drones and has threatened to target the World Cup, which kicked off this week, a monitoring group said on June 12.

The SITE Intelligence Group, an organisation that monitors jihadist groups, published a statement from the Handala group saying it has 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 licence plate screening deployed for counter-terrorism.

“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 unauthorised aircraft.

Drone flights will be banned over US stadiums hosting matches, as well as over fan events related to the tournament that kicked off on June 11.

The US Justice Department previously warned of the potential for cyberattacks by Iranian actors, following the US-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 US police department’s use of its technology for surveying tornado damage, SITE said.

Handala claimed in March to have hacked the e-mail account of FBI director Kash Patel and published personal photos and other material online.

The US State Department has offered a reward of up to US$10 million (S$12.8 million) for information leading to the identification of members of the group.