FBI Director Kash Patel Merch Site Taken Offline After Malware Attack

The personal merchandise website of FBI Director Kash Patel was taken offline on Friday after it was discovered to be distributing malware designed to steal sensitive data from visitors, particularly those using Mac computers. The site, Based Apparel, was co-founded by Patel and Andrew Ollis before Patel's appointment to his current role.

Security analysts identified the attack as a "ClickFix" social engineering scheme. Visitors to the site were presented with a page masquerading as a standard Cloudflare security check, which claimed their IP address had been flagged for unusual traffic. Users were prompted to copy a command and paste it into their Mac's Terminal application. While the visible text appeared benign, clicking "copy" actually captured a hidden, malicious command that would download and execute infostealer malware.

A security researcher using the alias WifiRumHam analyzed the malware and reported it was designed to harvest login credentials, browser cookies, passwords from the Apple keychain, Apple Notes content, and data from more than 200 different cryptocurrency wallet browser extensions. The researcher also claimed to have found a payment skimmer on the site's...