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

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

The SITE Intelligence Group, an organisation that monitors jihadist groups, published a statement from Handala saying they had 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 unauthorised aircraft.

Drone flights will be banned over US stadiums hosting matches, as well as over fan events related to the tournament co-hosted by the US, Mexico and Canada that kicked off its largest edition on Thursday.

Training for local and state police on countering unauthorised drone activity at the World Cup was part of a US$500 million federal grant to combat this growing threat to sporting events.

The justice department has 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 email 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 for information leading to the identification of members of the group.