US bounty on Iranian hackers reissued

The U.S. State Department has reissued a $10 million reward for information on Iranian threat operations Handala and Parsian Afzar Rayan Borna hours after the FBI confirmed Handala's breach and leak of Director Kash Patel's personal email and two weeks after the bounty on U.S.-targeting Iranian hackers was first introduced, reports The Record, a news site by cybersecurity firm Recorded Future.

Multiple U.S. and Israeli firms and government officials were already claimed to have been compromised by Iran state-backed Handala, which had its websites repeatedly disrupted by the Justice Department and the FBI. On the other hand, Iranian IT firm Parsian Afzar Rayan Borna, which is deeply connected with the Iranian government, was reported by Iranian researchers to have been crucial in various state-sponsored cyber intrusions against the Albanian government and Iranian opposition parties.

Such a development comes after the State Department offered up to $10 million in bounties for information on Iranian hackers connected to the state-backed CyberAv3ngers operation.