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The FBI seized and took down two websites linked to the pro-Iranian hacktivist group Handala, last week. said that he was the one who started the terrorist attacks on the Internet against the US technology giant Stryker.
As of Thursday, the content on the website where Handala announced its hacks, as well as another website the group used to harass many people because of its ties to the Israeli military and security contractors, such as Elbit Systems and NSO Group, had been replaced with a banner announcing security.
The takeover announcement did not say why the FBI and Justice Department took down the websites. But the language within it appears to indicate US officials believe the sites are run by hackers linked to a foreign government.
“Law enforcement officials have determined that this domain is being used to conduct, facilitate, or facilitate cyber activities on behalf of or in cooperation with a foreign actor,” read the seizure announcement. “The United States government has taken control of this area to disrupt ongoing Internet activity and prevent exploitation.”
TechCrunch confirmed the site’s takeover by examining its nameserver logs, which now point to servers run by the FBI.
The FBI and the Department of Justice did not immediately respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.
In a series of announcements posted on the group’s official channel on Thursday, Handala acknowledged that its pages had been taken offline, calling the attack “an attempt to suppress our voice.”
“This act of digital cruelty only shows the fear and anxiety we have created in the hearts of those who oppress and deceive,” he wrote. “Even if they try to erase evidence and hide their crimes by investigating and threatening them, their actions only confirm that our work is finished. The pursuit of justice cannot be stopped by removing the website, the movement of truth will continue and grow stronger.”
Handala’s X account it was also stopped recently.
The group did not respond to a message sent to their social media account.
It will go away he has been doing at least since the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas, and is believed to have ties to the Iranian government. Last week, the group said it had attacked the US company Stryker, which has more than 56,000 employees in many countries. The hackers said the hack was revenge an attack on US government weapons that hit a school in Iran, killing at least 175 people, most of them children.
Last year, Stryker signed $450 million deal providing medical equipment to the Department of Defense.
Handala allegedly accessed Stryker’s internal accounts, they found unlimited opportunities to the company’s Windows network. At the time, the hackers reportedly hijacked Stryker’s Intune dashboards, a tool designed to allow the company to remotely monitor employee laptops and mobile devices, which included the ability to delete data.
With access to these dashboards, it is said that thieves were able to wipe the company’s equipment and employees.
Tuesday, Stryker it said it was restoring its computers and internal network following the hack.
Nariman Gharib, a UK-based Iranian activist and freelance cyber-espionage researcher, told TechCrunch that the withdrawal is good news.
“Their organizational structure and management is in disarray, and at any moment, the members of this group can be targeted by armed forces, as well as by other regimes,” Gharib told TechCrunch.
“But this does not mean that their activities will stop – no. It is possible that future releases will be published by the group through the media close to the IRGC,” referring to the country’s military.
