Israeli army thwarts Hamas hackers’ malware scheme

MALCOM LUMUMBA · 2020-02-17T01:43:31+00:00

Palestinian militant group posed as young women on social media to infect soldiers’ phones. February 16, 2020 by Ilan Ben Zion The Israeli military said that it had thwarted a honeytrap scheme by Palestinian militant group Hamas that attempted to hack soldiers’ mobile phones by posing as attractive young women. Using at least six accounts curated to impersonate young Israeli ladies, the Islamist militant group exchanged messages with Israeli soldiers on social media and messaging platforms Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram. The dummy accounts seduced them into downloading malware on to their personal phones, said army spokesman Lt Col Jonathan Conricus. The military said in a statement on Sunday that “several hundreds of soldiers and officers” may have “had their mobile devices infected” by the group’s malware, but that an initial assessment showed that “no security damage was caused” by Hamas’s catfishing ploy. The three malware apps, which the impersonators said would allow the discreet sharing of intimate photos, gave Hamas hackers control over the phone. It then allowed them to transfer files, as well as identification and location data, and granted access to the device’s camera and microphone, Lt Col Conricus said. “It could compromise any military information that soldiers are near to, or are visible to their phones,” he said. On Sunday morning, the military’s official @IDF Twitter handle tweeted a photo of a young woman taking a “selfie” photograph in a tank top to warn the public about the foiled malware operation. “Hamas created fake social media profiles, using photos including this one, in an attempt to hack the phones of IDF soldiers,” the army tweeted. Hamas’s reported cyber operation was not the first honeytrap scam the Israeli military said it had foiled in recent years. In 2017 and 2018, the army said Hamas operatives had posed as attractive women on social media in an effort to trick soldiers into revealing sensitive information. As smartphones have proliferated in the ranks in the past decade, the Israeli military has made a concerted effort to raise awareness about cyber attacks under the guise of romantic encounters online. Lt Col Conricus said that the Palestinian militant group’s latest phishing accounts exhibited a “higher quality level of social engineering” in picking targets. The profiles created by Palestinian operators passed off shortcomings in their Hebrew vocabulary to being new immigrants, and their unwillingness to talk by phone or video to hearing disabilities. Israel and Hamas have fought three wars and dozens of smaller skirmishes since the militant group wrested control of the Gaza Strip in a 2007 coup. Israel and Egypt have maintained a blockade of the coastal territory since. Hamas had no immediate comment about the Israeli military report, but the militant group’s media outlet Al Aqsa Voice reported the army’s claim. Lt Col Conricus said the army had flagged the catfishing accounts to Facebook, but as of Sunday several remained active. Source: The Financial Times

Thread starter MALCOM LUMUMBA
Start date Feb 17, 2020

MALCOM LUMUMBA

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Israeli army thwarts Hamas hackers’ malware scheme

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