News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by everdrive on Friday March 27, 2026 @10:47AM (#47543300)
Interesting, and not all that implausible. The real test: his personal email should be pretty uninteresting except for stuff like HIPAA, amazon purchases, communications with friends / family. (good for HUMINT) But other than that, there shouldn't be anything in there which should make the news. It'll be interesting to see whether or not that bears out.

If they wanted to maintain access, they certainly wouldn't celebrate it publicly, which is why I assume they want to release information. But, there shouldn't be anything damning to release. ie, there ought not to be if the director is acting professionally. We'll see how the facts bear out. I also suppose it's possible they're just going for any win they can and there's nothing interesting here whatsoever, or it's a really boring secondary address or something.

Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by throwaway27448 on Friday March 27, 2026 @11:12AM (#47543638)
I think this is actually the opposite of the correct conclusion—just look how influential Patreus cheating on his wife was (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petraeus_scandal). I seriously doubt that Kash Patel doesn't have a bunch of skeletons to dust off and show the world; the man is a weirdo (much like the rest of the administration).

EDIT: I actually misread the comment; I think we're likely in agreement. My bad.

Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by Jare on Friday March 27, 2026 @11:24AM (#47543824)
I don't know, these days skeletons seem to be treated as funny decoration and we're in a permanent state of Halloween.
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by redanddead on Friday March 27, 2026 @12:47PM (#47545115)
Sullying Halloween's good name
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by scrollop on Saturday March 28, 2026 @10:08AM (#47554774)
Trump doesn't have a few skeletons in his closest, he boasts a series of catacombs.
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by vibrio on Saturday March 28, 2026 @09:29PM (#47559659)
…Better plan all day Better plan all week, better plan all month, better plan all year…. (Sorry, esoteric song lyric that applies.)
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by larodi on Monday March 30, 2026 @04:32PM (#47579365)
Human Condition is now a generally accepted baseline.
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by nixon_why69 on Friday March 27, 2026 @12:00PM (#47544447)
I'd like to chime in and say that that Kash Patel, while completely unprofessional and incompetent, is way less of a weirdo than the rest of the administration.

His scandals are all about shirking job responsibilities to party and sightsee. That's not great from the FBI director but its way more normal than the rest of them.

Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by mikeyouse on Friday March 27, 2026 @12:08PM (#47544571)
That's not remotely true of his history.. he's a full on Jan-6er, deep into Q-Anon, he was involved in numerous serious scandals during the first Trump admin (Nunes Memo / Russiagate 'parallel' investigation: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/01/the-men...), he has a number of sketchy moneymaking side-businesses, he was formerly living with a GOP megadonor 'Timeshare Tycoon' as roommates in Vegas (https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/trump-fbi-pick-kash...), he collected enemies' lists for Trump which resulted in firing of most of the Iran counterintel team right before we started launching attacks because they had the termerity to investigate why Trump was showing donors top-secret maps of Iran after he left office..
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by nixon_why69 on Friday March 27, 2026 @12:44PM (#47545076)
I'm not defending or advocating for the guy, just saying, if you're gonna be a piece of shit, he seems more relatable than the rest of them.
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by quantified on Friday March 27, 2026 @01:49PM (#47545943)
In the current environment, those are more expecteds than scandalous. Insider trades around government activities, same-sex behavior, overt racism for example might nudge the needle.
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by sysguest on Saturday March 28, 2026 @05:42AM (#47553076)
yeah that world-event gambling stuff gotta stop...

I mean, if I can send troops, I would bet on sending troops, wont I?

those gamblers who aren't Trump or any 'event initiators themselves' must be idiots of extraordinary quality

Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by alsetmusic on Saturday March 28, 2026 @09:26PM (#47559636)
Don't normalize this behavior.
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by embedding-shape on Friday March 27, 2026 @12:06PM (#47544549)
I dunno, a sitting FBI director testifying under oath about details that are clearly false, goes above and way beyond "to party and sightsee". At least in my world it puts him up there together with the rest of the weirdos.
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by kelipso on Saturday March 28, 2026 @08:58AM (#47554178)
A sitting FBI director testifying under oath about details that are clearly false is tradition at this point.
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by nickburns on Friday March 27, 2026 @12:02PM (#47544495)
So you mean to point out that the sitting FBI director is a bro's bro.
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by Hikikomori on Saturday March 28, 2026 @03:22AM (#47552365)
How can you way that with a straight face when this book exists.

https://www.amazon.com/Plot-Against-King-Kash-Patel/dp/19555...

Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by nixon_why69 on Saturday March 28, 2026 @04:53AM (#47552806)
I did not know about that book, yeah that is cringe.
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by sysguest on Saturday March 28, 2026 @05:44AM (#47553086)
idk if you have to dig in and link to some amazon link...

this iran hack is a dismal propaganda failure...

nothing much to see I guess

Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by Hikikomori on Saturday March 28, 2026 @08:38AM (#47554035)
Dig in? Was already aware of his book, and he's made many more weird books. Trump's cabinet are all weird little goblins, some more Nazi than others, like Miller.
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by sysguest on Saturday March 28, 2026 @10:24AM (#47554899)
isn't that "hackers" supposed to get some unknown secret scandalous stuff?

if you're digging amazon FOR them, what's the point of their activity?

and by "digging", yes it's digging because is that link THE FIRST RECOMMENDED THING from amazon?

gosh I didn't even say "trump cabinet is the best and perfect"...

...damn did you get like 300 on SAT reading?

Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by Hikikomori on Saturday March 28, 2026 @11:45AM (#47555638)
Why do you assume I did any digging at all? I just said we might find out some fun stuff in his emails about his weird book, which I already was aware of. Presumably the SAT includes properly written words and sentences, not whatever you spew out.
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by junon on Monday March 30, 2026 @05:23AM (#47572186)
This is insane lol. I didn't know about this.
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by yieldcrv on Monday March 30, 2026 @08:45AM (#47573585)
That’s why the memes about his new deer in headlights look is so funny

He sucked up to get his position and realized - through the fbi - that the cabinet and administration is crazy

Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by bjourne on Saturday March 28, 2026 @06:15AM (#47553230)
90% of US media is not aligned with the Democrats and as such they do not possess the same power to manufacture outrage as the Republicans do.
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by stevenicr on Saturday March 28, 2026 @06:01PM (#47558504)
I can't tell if this a sarcastic statement or you believe this to be true.
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by throwaway27448 on Saturday March 28, 2026 @07:33PM (#47559024)
> 90% of US media is not aligned with the Democrats

The media works for the same people both parties do. If capital wanted to manufacture Democrat-aligned outrage they could easily do so overnight.

But it's a complete mistake to think about politics in a partisan manner at all. Of course the democrats won't ever fight for you. Doing anything decreases chances of getting elected again.

Whatever force will depose capital won't come from the two-party system.

Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by bjourne on Saturday March 28, 2026 @10:22PM (#47559901)
The media works for the billionaire elite and it is mostly aligned with the Republican party. And if you think that "both parties are as bad" or that the last president was as batshit insane as the current one, that same billionaire elite has duped you.
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by PhilipRoman on Sunday March 29, 2026 @01:09PM (#47565012)
It's actually almost exactly the opposite, at least when considering the number of media outlets. Fox news is a massive outlier with a huge audience and strong republican leaning, but most of the major networks engage in democrat-aligned signaling (not necessarily the progressive branch of democrats).
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by true_religion on Sunday March 29, 2026 @01:22PM (#47565146)
Considering number over outlets versus population served is exactly the wrong way of looking at it.

Fewer outlets serving larger populations means stricter control over messaging, and a better propaganda base.

Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by _fat_santa on Friday March 27, 2026 @12:09PM (#47544583)
I was just reading a X thread that published some of the more notable things and overall it's pretty innocuous. The most "controversial" thing thus far is he took a trip to Cuba
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by close04 on Friday March 27, 2026 @11:45AM (#47544203)
> look how influential Patreus cheating on his wife was

Those times have passed. I'll restate what I said in a comment some days ago:

>> 50 years ago the press was "impeaching" presidents. Today presidents are "impeaching" the press

The current strategy is "keep the outrage hose on full blast and eventually people get desensitized". It works.

Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by mc32 on Friday March 27, 2026 @12:14PM (#47544645)
The press was stupid. They were doing stupid gotchas like swiftboats, fake reports on GWB (Dan Rather), but couldn’t care less about things like the CIA and the crack cocaine connection, or lots of other things the government gets away with (including Clappers total information awareness unconstitutional surveillance efforts) The press is always carrying water for someone but that someone is rarely the public unless is just pure coincidence.
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by jyounker on Saturday March 28, 2026 @03:05PM (#47557348)
* The Swiftboat thing was completely an ad campaign if I remember correctly. I remember most media covering it as BS.

* The contents of Dan Rather report on GWB was true. There was one document which was sketchy, but the whole report didn't hinge on the one document from an officer's office. (E.g. Ex-senator Ben Barnes's interview is reasonably indicting: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/transcript-barnes-on-bush/)

  The media did fall down though. Only one outlet went to the the Officer's
  secretary (who was still alive) to ask if she had typed the document.
  She looked at it and said (summarizing here) that it wasn't the document
  she typed, but it was the same contents.
What's interesting is how easily the media is distracted. What's even more concerning though, is that when the more centrist major media has tried to be less gullible, they've been vilified. (E.g. trying not to be suckered by miraculous appearance Hunter Biden's laptop.)

It's a mess, and the only way out of it is probably limits own media ownership.

Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by hypeatei on Friday March 27, 2026 @11:22AM (#47543787)
There is so much corruption and impropriety in this administration that skeletons don't matter anymore. Looking at what sunk officials in previous administrations provides a sense for just how far gone we are, but it's not an indicator of what future consequences will be.
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by Loughla on Friday March 27, 2026 @02:27PM (#47546433)
Dan Quayle lost a serious bid because he couldn't spell potato.

Now look at where we're at. It really is wild. Right, wrong, or indifferent. How far we've shifted is absolutely wild.

Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by throwaway27448 on Friday March 27, 2026 @04:54PM (#47548128)
Dan Quayle also had the charisma of a potato. Let's not overfit this curve.
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by treebeard901 on Friday March 27, 2026 @11:43AM (#47544172)
Maybe the hackers will release information connecting Patel to the Noem and Lewandowski grift operations with govt contracts. Out of the four companies allowed to bid for the $220 million advertising contract, 3 were linked to Noem and Lewandowski and one to Patel.

Im sure they are all doing it...

Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by MyHonestOpinon on Friday March 27, 2026 @11:48AM (#47544275)
Well, if the president sets the example. What can you expect from the rest ?
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by sysguest on Saturday March 28, 2026 @05:46AM (#47553096)
well if you're listing your hopes, not talking from what those hackers brought...

that just means the operation is a dismal failure -- nothing to see

this really undermines iran hackers' claims regarding 'big things' on trump administration

[dead]
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by thejazzman on Friday March 27, 2026 @11:35AM (#47544031)
Trump is currently in office ;)
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by snapcaster on Friday March 27, 2026 @11:37AM (#47544063)
This simping is such a bad look. Why go to bat for a man who wouldn't piss on you to put out a fire? Act like a man jesus christ
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by ChrisMarshallNY on Saturday March 28, 2026 @06:08AM (#47553199)
My favorite explanation of the Petraeus scandal: https://vimeo.com/100348256
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by aqme28 on Saturday March 28, 2026 @06:24AM (#47553273)
I think theirs was the right conclusion, but for the wrong reason. If there was anything really damning, Iran would rather use that as leverage.

The fact that they released it publicly means that the most embarrassing part of it is just the hack in itself.

Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by ikr678 on Saturday March 28, 2026 @09:30AM (#47554425)
If I was Iran I'd leak the innocuous stuff first to let them know I had access to potentially more damning things, to try and force the US to the table.
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by kortilla on Saturday March 28, 2026 @12:16PM (#47555941)
That would only work if there was something damning to Trump or someone in charge of Iran negotiations. Trump has no problem cutting people loose otherwise
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by ls612 on Saturday March 28, 2026 @11:33AM (#47555523)
From the news I’ve read the most “embarrassing” things in his personal email are photos of him smoking cigars, holding a bottle of rum, and posing in front of a supercar. What a scandal…
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by austin-cheney on Saturday March 28, 2026 @07:06AM (#47553480)
Like what? We have two presidents, including the current one, that took multiple trips to a pedophile island. What skeletons could be greater than accusations of punching a child in the face after they bit the dude’s penis during forced sodomy?
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by Amezarak on Saturday March 28, 2026 @08:22AM (#47553921)
There is no credible evidence that either of the Presidents you alluded to visited "the island". It's amazing to see conspiracy theories promulgated on HN.
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by austin-cheney on Saturday March 28, 2026 @08:30AM (#47553972)
There is lots of evidence that these two presidents were on the pedophile island many times, and one of their wives. That is well established.

There is no evidence released to the public directly linking those two men to specific sex acts by name. There is unnamed evidence released by the US DOJ specifically describing the assault I described in the prior comment. Again, none of this is theoretical, conspiracy, or conjecture. It’s in the documents released by the government that the government has confirmed as authentic.

Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by Amezarak on Saturday March 28, 2026 @09:22AM (#47554360)
No doubt you are aware that the claims about Clinton originated with the founder of the Epstein Mythos, Virginia Giuffre, who we know for a fact was a serial confabulator. While she was inarguably one of Epstein's victims, she also made several claims that were demonstrably untrue, she could not keep her own stories straight, the FBI concluded internally that she was totally unreliable and that she was even lying about what the FBI told her, other victims contradicted her, and she was herself forced to recant on several subjects, including admitting that her "autobiography" book was a work of fiction. If you doubt me, feel free to read the FBI memo about her.

In the case of both Clinton and Trump, there is no evidence that either of them visited Little St. James, and plenty of evidence otherwise - for example, Epstein even says so about Clinton in an email.

> It’s in the documents released by the government that the government has confirmed as authentic.

The documents are "authentic" in that yes, a real schizo did really tell the government he heard it secondhand 30 years ago that this happened and also that he discovered Hilary Clinton was behind the WTC bombing. (For some reason, people like you always leave that part of the bombshell revelations out.) I am for total transparency generally, but this whole saga has been a major disappointment for me in that the level of public discourse is so lazy and low that its clear that in a purely utilitarian way, it would have been better to not release it. Hopefully long-term the sacrifice of many people whose reputations are being destroyed over little or nothing is worth it. Every crank call about celebrities is being treated as gospel.

Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by defrost on Saturday March 28, 2026 @08:31AM (#47553979)
Remarkable that Epstein confined his pedophile activities to a single location.

No, wait:

  In 2008, Epstein reached a plea deal with prosecutors after the parents of a 14-year-old girl told Florida police that Epstein had molested their daughter at his Palm Beach home.
Hmm ... would that be the same Palm Beach home that Trump visited a good many times back when he was best of chums with Jeffrey and sending him the nude outline sketches?
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by Amezarak on Saturday March 28, 2026 @09:07AM (#47554247)
> Remarkable that Epstein confined his pedophile activities to a single location

Correct, the vast majority of his criminal activity appeared to be in his Palm Beach home and in New York, where he recruited high dozens to hundreds of high school girls for his personal sexualized massages. It actually appears only a very small amount of his illicit activity ever took place on the island, which makes it all the more ironic that's what the conspiracy theorists focus on.

I was willing to be more than openmminded about the conspiracists' mass trafficking ring (ie, beyond the two people charged) angle, but the ironic thing is about the Epstein files is they revealed it was almost all smoke. Of course, in the conspirational mindset, all contradicting evidence is actually, secretly, when you apply the correct hermeutics, even more damning, or else evidence of a coverup.

Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by defrost on Saturday March 28, 2026 @09:13AM (#47554294)
> the ironic thing is about the Epstein files is they revealed it was almost all smoke.

and a few massive conspiracy shaped holes - eg: the references to missing content regarding Trump and a few other. Oh, and the shortfall between what has been released Vs what has been indexed, the black paging, and the hints from those that have seen but are sworn to not tell about that which they have seen but cannot recount.

Still, at least we seem to agree that PedoIsland is a misdirect when it comes to determining who did what to whom and where.

I can't see Pam Bondi coming clean here anytime soon.

Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by Amezarak on Saturday March 28, 2026 @09:25AM (#47554385)
> the hints from those that have seen but are sworn to not tell about that which they have seen but cannot recoun

The people who were victimized by anyone other than Epstein and Maxwell could come forward at any time, just as dozens of Epstein's victims have. They have some of the highest-powered civil lawyers in America, hundreds of millions of dollars in settlement funds available, and vast swaths of the country behind them.

That they haven't should tell you something.

Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by ziml77 on Saturday March 28, 2026 @10:01AM (#47554714)
It tells me that they are afraid of their safety and the safety of their families. They would risking backlash from a billionaire who loves intimidation tactics, who currently has the highest amount of power of any individual in the US, and who has nutty followers who would act on his behalf and let him pretend he was not at all happy about what they are doing.

The people who have come forward about Epstein's abuses have little to worry about because that man is dead and he's a perfect scapegoat for all the the other ultra-rich who took part in the abuses.

Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by Amezarak on Saturday March 28, 2026 @10:38AM (#47555013)
If you’re talking about Trump, you may remember that E Jean Carroll won a lawsuit against him. She’s walking the earth and continuing to live a public life.

And again, millions of dollars are available from settlement funds if Epstein was involved, there’s already some of the best lawyers in the country begging to represent you, and there’s people volunteering to pay for your security needs.

You’re also ignoring the many victims that came out before Epstein died.

This is just an excuse to perpetuate the conspiracy theories. It doesn’t hold water. And of course if anything was released from super secret “the files” they’re definitely still covering up, they’d become publicly known.

Surely you see how this line of reasoning is identical to that of any other conspiracy or moral panic.

Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by esseph on Saturday March 28, 2026 @01:40PM (#47556732)
> And of course if anything was released from super secret “the files” they’re definitely still covering up, they’d become publicly known.

They've been caught trying to do Trump related reactions at least three times now.

Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by Amezarak on Saturday March 28, 2026 @03:16PM (#47557413)
You misunderstand my point. I’m saying that if there are any credible accusations in “the files” beyond those well-documented ones against Epstein and Maxwell, then the accusers would be known publicly anyway when they’re disclosed.

The whole thing falls apart the moment you examine the actual evidence and think about it. It’s really disappointing that smart people on even this forum get wrapped up into this junk.

Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by esseph on Saturday March 28, 2026 @06:03PM (#47558515)
> You misunderstand my point. I’m saying that if there are any credible accusations in “the files” beyond those well-documented ones against Epstein and Maxwell, then the accusers would be known publicly anyway when they’re disclosed. The whole thing falls apart the moment you examine the actual evidence and think about it. It’s really disappointing that smart people on even this forum get wrapped up into this junk.

Did you know that Epstein's hard drives were removed by a private investigator, and that the FBI and DOJ never had them to begin with? They were removed before they were searched by law enforcement.

https://abcnews.com/US/house-oversight-panel-seeks-testimony...

https://www.businessinsider.com/jeffrey-epstein-safe-diamond...

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/03/27/epstein-private-...

Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by Amezarak on Saturday March 28, 2026 @06:48PM (#47558769)
And? What does that have to do with the absence of witnesses of a sex trafficking ring involving anyone else?

This isn’t even news, it was a big deal back in the day and is covered extensively in the report about the DoJ’s conduct. Read the reports and consider the context; this is a nothingburger. But because the conspiracy theory has been started, everything that happens will be read as supporting it. Epstein had very good reasons for destroying evidence of his own deeds without any need for anyone else being involved. (The evidence the DoJ collected was very weak and they weren’t sure it would sustain a prosecution, which is partly why they were glad to go with a plea deal.) You’re coming in primed to believe there’s already a conspiracy about something else altogether.

Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by esseph on Saturday March 28, 2026 @06:59PM (#47558823)
> And? What does that have to do with the absence of witnesses of a sex trafficking ring involving anyone else?

Did you just ask, in a post about evidence being taken and keep from investigators, why there isn't evidence?

> This isn’t even news, it was a big deal back in the day and is covered extensively in the report about the DoJ’s conduct.

Then why is it news FROM TODAY/YESTERDAY?

---

In a March 19 deposition with the House Oversight Committee, Darren Indyke, Epstein's longtime personal attorney, said he learned after Epstein's 2008 conviction that the hard drives were in the possession of Riley Kiraly, a private investigations firm.

"The Committee requests that you make yourself available for a transcribed interview to provide insight into the contents, removal, storage, and location of materials removed from Mr. Epstein's Palm Beach home," the letter to Riley says.

source: https://www.businessinsider.com/jeffrey-epstein-safe-diamond...

Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by OrangePilled on Sunday March 29, 2026 @01:22AM (#47560599)
That computer and surveillance equipment was removed from Epstein's home and withheld from law enforcement throughout his Florida case has been public since 2020. That Riley Kiraly possessed the equipment was known to the lead prosecutor as well. [46;176]

You can CTRL-F "computer" and get 92 matches indicating their importance:

https://context-cdn.washingtonpost.com/notes/prod/default/do....

It seems that the only "news" is the bit that you mentioned about Indyke/Riley. Indyke apparently was not involved in the Florida case. At least he isn't mentioned in the linked DOJ report among Epstein's counsel.

I don't know what it would take for it to be deemed necessary to seize the equipment that the prosecution failed to get almost 20 years ago.

Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by Amezarak on Sunday March 29, 2026 @07:16AM (#47562175)
> Did you just ask, in a post about evidence being taken and keep from investigators, why there isn't evidence?

The sibling commenter addressed the timeline, but you still seem to be missing the point: harddrive or no harddrive, there would have been witnesses - at least the victims- of the grand conspiracy theory involving other men. Instead, you're limited to Maria Farmer (26 when she was victimized by Epstein, rarely seen in public because she makes wild accusations about random people including the journalists interviewing her - she is currently convinced that Whitney Webb murdered a chef) and Virginia Giuffre (underage victim and confirmed fabulist, who also, for the record, said Trump did nothing wrong and endorsed his Presidency). There never was any evidence of the organized conspiracy of elites part of the Epstein story. Read the testimony! Again and again the women say there were no other men.

You're concluding that computer equipment Epstein had every reason to hide from law enforcement to cover up more concrete evidence of his solicitation of minors actually contains evidence of a totally different thing that nobody was claiming at the time - a grand sex trafficking conspiracy involving powerful billionaires and politicians. But there's no reason to think that's the case.

At the end of the day, if any of this happened, these women could come forward. They're entitled to millions in settlement money already (and you don't even have to go to court to get it - its an administrative process, not a judicial one; and it's big money, Annie Farmer alone got at least 1.5 million), and naming additional names would open the door to even more! They already have some of the best civil attorneys in the country! An unrelated case has already shown that you can win a civil suit against the most powerful man in the country, even with no evidence besides your testimony! That they have not, combined with the total lack of evidence, suggests they don't exist.

But because the mindset behind this is conspiratorial, it will always be "there IS evidence - it's just being covered up!". And no amount of releases will ever be enough - because they can't show it to be true, which just proves there's a coverup! It's never-ending.

Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by esseph on Monday March 30, 2026 @06:19PM (#47580429)
> At the end of the day, if any of this happened, these women could come forward. They're entitled to millions in settlement money already (and you don't even have to go to court to get it - its an administrative process, not a judicial one; and it's big money, Annie Farmer alone got at least 1.5 million)

Many of these women did not want to go to court. They did not want to talk to media. They did not want to relieve the trauma of these events. Money is a huge motivator for some people but not all. Imagine decades after the event, you've settled down. Maybe you have a career or a family. Kids. Do you want to drag them through that? Have their spouse get asked questions at work or jokes made to their kids by other kids? Of course not.

When the DOJ leaked many of their names, that was a threat. That was a threat. I could also imagine many individuals involved in this wouldn't know the names of the abused. Why would they? Now they do, for many. That's enough to get pressure on people to shut the fuck up. Not all the names were released!

I'll leave you some notes:

--- Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/epstein-survivors-felt-...

---

"Six survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse and two members of another accuser’s family said they felt "degraded" during Wednesday's contentious House Judiciary Committee hearing"

---

[Bondi] "She was specifically questioned about why released files were heavily redacted and why several survivors' names were not."

---

"At one point, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., asked Epstein survivors in the room to stand up and raise their hands if they hadn’t had the opportunity to meet with the Justice Department. Every single one raised their hand."

---

"Bensky has said she was 17 and a budding ballerina in 2004 when Epstein sexually abused her at his New York City mansion.

“I felt like such a ghost walking through Epstein’s mansion.

I felt like there were so many people who saw me.

There were so many people who should have spoken up," Bensky said."

---

Re: Conspiracy

I mean...

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/doj-name...

---

Source: https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/02/flawed-epste...

"Despite the scale of disclosures, experts warned of serious compliance failures and botched redactions that exposed sensitive victim information, with harm often occurring before records were withdrawn. Accountability has been limited, with only one close associate under investigation. Under international human rights law, States are obligated to prevent, investigate and punish violence against women and girls, including acts committed by private actors."

"“The failure to safeguard their privacy puts them at risk of retaliation and stigma. The reluctance to fully disclose information or broaden investigations, has left many survivors feeling retraumatised...”

“Any suggestion that it is time to move on from the ‘Epstein files’ is unacceptable. It represents a failure of responsibility towards victims,” they said.

“Resignations of implicated individuals alone are not an adequate substitute for criminal accountability,” the experts said. They welcomed steps by some governments to probe current and former officials and private individuals named in the files. They called on other states to do the same.

---

Final note: > there would have been witnesses

Yes, and they don't want to admit to being there because of the liability.

Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by Amezarak on Monday March 30, 2026 @08:28PM (#47581364)
Can you name an Epstein victim that was not already public that was exposed by the DoJ's failure to properly redact? You keep repeating these narratives that are simply nonsense. Who was "leaked" by the DoJ that we didn't already know about?

Also, are you suggesting we should convict people and impeach them based on anonymous accusations? Do you believe in the Sixth Amendment? Surely you don't believe that we should be able to destroy notable figures based on anonymous denouncements? There is no universe where anything happens without people coming forward!

You're caught in a bind though, because the conspiracy relies on all these victims of other men existing, but mysteriously not coming forward, unlike the dozens of the victims who say only Epstein was involved, so you have to come up with fictitious reasons why they aren't materializing. What do you even want? Presumably, it's for these shadowy pedophiles to be taken down...but they can't be taken down without the victims coming forward, files or no files!

This is particularly ironic that, instead of endlessly litigating a conspiracy theory that's fairly well exhausted, there is open child prostitution going on right now (instead of 30 years ago) in LA on "the Blade", and we are doing approximately nothing about it, and not nearly enough people care. Imagine if all the energy of these conspiracy theorists was focused on stopping something actually happening now.

Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by whattheheckheck on Sunday March 29, 2026 @02:29AM (#47560850)
Its amazing for you to stick your head to your ass pedo protector
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by tencentshill on Friday March 27, 2026 @10:52AM (#47543348)
Surely we are currently clean on OPSEC. There couldn't be any precedent for government officials using private email servers for confidential information!
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by vessenes on Friday March 27, 2026 @11:35AM (#47544037)
obligatory - that first famous private server was done because someone wanted a blackberry like Obama had, and was told no by NSA. Man that BB keyboard was good.
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by bookofjoe on Friday March 27, 2026 @12:09PM (#47544580)
Check this out (can't wait til mine arrives): https://www.clicks.tech/
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by connorgurney on Friday March 27, 2026 @03:26PM (#47547124)
I’ve been using a Clicks case since the early days and have personally loved every second of it but it’s definitely an acquired taste. Let us know how you find it.
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by bookofjoe on Sunday March 29, 2026 @09:34AM (#47563025)
Will do!
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by the_why_of_y on Saturday March 28, 2026 @04:53AM (#47552810)
That can't be the first one. Colin Powell used a personal email account during the GWB administration.

https://www.npr.org/2016/09/08/493133413/colin-powells-ways-...

Of course that pales in comparison with the practices of the GWB White House:

https://www.newsweek.com/2016/09/23/george-w-bush-white-hous...

Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by rurp on Friday March 27, 2026 @11:44AM (#47544190)
Are we talking about the same FBI director here? Professional and competent are not how I would describe Kash Patel. Given his overt buffoonishness and the whole administration's disdain for procedure and expertise I would be shocked if he didn't have extremely inappropriate content in his inbox.
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by conception on Friday March 27, 2026 @11:49AM (#47544281)
I believe “if” is doing a tremendous amount of work in parent’s comment.
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by bitwank on Friday March 27, 2026 @12:09PM (#47544586)
Yeah, the fact they announced it proves it’s nothing. I saw a picture of him smoking a cigar. We’ve already seen him drinking beer and acting foolish; probably enough to get you executed in Isfahan, but a giant nothining in the USA.
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by firefax on Friday March 27, 2026 @11:38AM (#47544086)
>his personal email should be pretty uninteresting except for stuff like HIPAA

medical diagnoses can be incredibly useful in understanding past and future actions

>there shouldn't be anything damning to release. ie, there ought not to be if the director is acting professionally

that "if" is doing some heavy lifting given who we are discussing

Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by JeremyNT on Friday March 27, 2026 @12:01PM (#47544465)
> The real test: his personal email should be pretty uninteresting except for stuff like HIPAA, amazon purchases, communications with friends / family. (good for HUMINT) But other than that, there shouldn't be anything in there which should make the news.

I have no idea why this would be the default assumption for somebody as sloppy and erratic as Patel. Look at how many people were emailing damning stuff to/from Epstein's personal email accounts from their own personal email accounts!

Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by embedding-shape on Friday March 27, 2026 @10:58AM (#47543427)
> his personal email should be pretty uninteresting except for stuff like HIPAA, amazon purchases, communications with friends / family. (good for HUMINT) But other than that, there shouldn't be anything in there which should make the news. It'll be interesting to see whether or not that bears out.

Aren't these the same people who apparently used Signal with a journalist in the chat, and had military conversations in that very chat?

Color me surprised if these people haven't heard of opsec before, and mix their work/personal life all over the place.

Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by drnick1 on Friday March 27, 2026 @11:41AM (#47544134)
> Aren't these the same people who apparently used Signal with a journalist in the chat, and had military conversations in that very chat?

Signal is one of the most secure communication platforms out there, but it is obviously not immune to human error or social engineering.

Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by mikeyouse on Friday March 27, 2026 @12:10PM (#47544593)
Also wildly illegal to use to conduct government business, especially confidential government business. (and yes the messages were auto-deleting and largely lost before anyone chimes in with technically they could be archived!)
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by nickburns on Friday March 27, 2026 @12:11PM (#47544620)
It was a custom (presumably DoD-approved) build. But the story gets much better than that:

https://youtu.be/KFYyfrTIPQY&t=724

Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by embedding-shape on Friday March 27, 2026 @12:08PM (#47544568)
Ok? Signal is not the topic of my comment really, nor has anyone claimed it's less secure than other chat apps.
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by krisoft on Saturday March 28, 2026 @05:57AM (#47553143)
> Signal is one of the most secure communication platforms out there

That might be true amongst the communication platforms available for the average Joe. It is definietly not the most secure communication platform available for someone high ranking in the USA government.

> it is obviously not immune to human error or social engineering

Nothing is immune. But there are systems more and systems less prone to these issues.

Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by esseph on Saturday March 28, 2026 @01:43PM (#47556769)
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by everdrive on Friday March 27, 2026 @11:01AM (#47543461)
Yes, and I wouldn't be shocked if there was classified information in there. I struggled with wording, but what I meant was "you're not supposed to be able to find classified or sensitive information in personal email, but I who knows what will be the case here."
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by dmix on Friday March 27, 2026 @11:20AM (#47543761)
Signal started being used during the Biden administration, the issue was how they were managing contacts which could be added to groups. They weren't carefully vetting access and a journalist with the same name as another military guy was added to the group by accident.
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by apical_dendrite on Friday March 27, 2026 @12:04PM (#47544522)
Source?
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by dmix on Friday March 27, 2026 @12:20PM (#47544720)
The public record of a contract to the Israeli company which handled archiving Signal chats for the DoD was done during Biden admin. And it's been well reported if you just Google it:

> Alexa Henning, spokesperson for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, tweeted last week that “widespread use” of Signal began under the Biden administration, adding that “at ODNI, when I got my phone, it was pre-installed.”

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/02/inside-the-hazy-fra...

Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by apical_dendrite on Friday March 27, 2026 @01:57PM (#47546075)
You're missing some key distinctions. The issues are: 1) putting classified information into a non-classified system; 2) putting information that needs to be preserved under laws like the presidential records act into systems where it's set to be auto-deleted. Both are illegal. Simply saying that the Biden administration pre-installed Signal is irrelevant. There are legitimate uses.

Your own article makes this exact point: > Matthew Shoemaker, a former Defense Intelligence Agency analyst who left the agency in 2021, said that while Signal was used during his time in government, “it was almost exclusively restricted to scheduling purposes,” such as letting their boss know that they’ll be late to work because of personal circumstances. “That’s why Signalgate is all the more staggering — because these senior leaders were doing the exact opposite of what even my most junior intelligence officers knew not to do,” he said.

You're doing bullshit partisan whataboutism. "well the democrats did it first".

This has nothing to do with adding the wrong contacts. It has to do with putting highly-sensitive material into Signal to circumvent the law around records preservation and as a result creating a situation where it's possible to accidentally add the wrong contact and therefore exposing that information to a journalist.

Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by dmix on Friday March 27, 2026 @08:54PM (#47550374)
> This has nothing to do with adding the wrong contacts. It has to do with putting highly-sensitive material into Signal to circumvent the law around records preservation

My comment above already mentions public records of the DoD contracting out archiving of the Signal chat, so it doesn't in fact circumvent laws around preservation.

> You're doing bullshit partisan whataboutism. "well the democrats did it first".

I don't think it's a huge sin for government workers to be using Signal, remote work and messaging is the new norm and they will use something whether we like it or not, and Signal is the least bad option. I don't blame the Biden DoD for experimenting down that road at all, as I'm skeptical they'd build something better internally - and to your hyperpolitical points I don't see large distinctions between these type of tech choices between administrations (the DoD staff largely remains the same even when presidents change).

The issue with encryption and security will always be human security practices come first-and-foremost, technology second. They failed an OPSEC checklist when using group chats and need to implement better identification management. That's the sort of lesson that large organizations frequently need to re-learn the hard way when adopting new (and often better) things.

This was just a good lesson in security hygiene

Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by fc417fc802 on Saturday March 28, 2026 @03:29AM (#47552394)
I'm not clear on the verdict here.

1. Classified information. Was it legal to put that into the DoD approved Signal build? The media coverage at the time gave me the impression that it was not.

2. Records keeping. Were the Trump admin chats in question properly archived then? I had been led to believe that they weren't. Do you believe that to be incorrect?

> I don't blame the Biden DoD for experimenting down that road at all

The person you're replying to never criticized them for such.

Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by throwa356262 on Friday March 27, 2026 @11:08AM (#47543575)

    'Aren't these the same people who apparently used Signal with a journalist...'

Are people still believing that story? That leak was 110% intentional, just look at the language used during their conversation.

The whole thing looked like a digital version of a stage whisper.

Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by embedding-shape on Friday March 27, 2026 @11:12AM (#47543624)
> The investigation has led to turmoil within the Defense Department, raising tensions and the firings and resignations of several top DoD officials, including former Chief of Staff Joe Kasper. [...] On May 1, 2025, it was revealed that both national security adviser Mike Waltz and his deputy Alex Wong would be leaving their posts in the National Security Council

Let me guess, the "leak" was intentional just to break a bunch of laws and to cause a bunch of people to get fired and leave their posts?

Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by apercu on Friday March 27, 2026 @12:05PM (#47544535)
They do a lot of mental heavy lifting to support a corrupt and incompetent administration- sunk cost fallacy I imagine.
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by Forgeties79 on Friday March 27, 2026 @12:07PM (#47544561)
The facts simply do not bear this interpretation out. Investigations and heads rolling for a stage whisper? Nah
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by BigTTYGothGF on Friday March 27, 2026 @11:37AM (#47544056)
Those "should"s are doing a lot of heavy lifting.
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by GorbachevyChase on Friday March 27, 2026 @05:46PM (#47548731)
We’re not getting any juicy leaks from it because it’s just full of 20-year-old memes and meeting invites to look busy.
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by renegade-otter on Saturday March 28, 2026 @06:37AM (#47553351)
Re:Iran-linked hackers claim breach of FBI director's person... by MomsAVoxell on Sunday March 29, 2026 @10:31AM (#47563481)
It would be damning to discover that he was compromised by a foreign adversary.

Or that he was participating in actively covering up the Epstein crime portfolio.

Maybe it wouldn’t be enough to get American citizens in an uproar, but the rest of the world certainly pays attention to these things.