Who is Handala, the hacktivist group US ties to Iranian intelligence?
Handala Hack Team portrays itself as a pro-Palestinian group but is widely believed to be linked to Iranian intelligence.
A group allegedly linked to Iranian intelligence claimed responsibility for an attack on an anti-regime news outlet on Tuesday, days after reportedly hacking the FBI director’s personal account. Tehran is increasingly turning to cyber operations amid the ongoing war with the US and Israel.
What happened: The Handala Hack Team said it had “fully” hacked and taken control of the IranWire news outlet’s website and social media accounts. Handala claimed to have obtained correspondence and information on affiliates of IranWire, describing the news site as a “hostile outlet” supported by the CIA.
Handala posted images of its logo over IranWire’s X, Instagram, Facebook and Telegram pages on Tuesday, though the accounts were operating normally later in the day. The IranWire website had read “We are currently performing scheduled maintenance” for several days predating Handala's hack claim.
🚨 IranWire Targeted in Cyberattack Claims
— Dark Web Intelligence (@DailyDarkWeb) March 31, 2026
The threat actor group Handala claims to have compromised both:
• IranWire’s Instagram account
• IranWire’s website infrastructure
Screenshots shared by the group allegedly show backend/admin panel access.
⚠️ No independent… pic.twitter.com/8IlvJW9YNU
IranWire, which is based outside of Iran and reports critically on the Islamic Republic, issued a statement later on Tuesday denying it had been hacked, saying the images that were circulated are related to a service disruption.
