The Israeli Defense Forces said it had foiled a Hamas plot to hack soldiers using fake social media accounts.
The IDF said over the weekend that the terrorist group made fake accounts appearing to belong to attractive young women in an attempt to install malware onto the phones of soldiers. The plot failed though, according to Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, who explained that while many phones were infected, the IDF caught wind of the plot early and was able to prevent the leak of sensitive data.
Conricus said the hackers appeared on apps such as Telegram, WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram and would pretend to be young women interested in having a conversation. They would attempt to downplay their poor knowledge of Hebrew by saying they were new to the country.
“We see that the level of social engineering is much higher and much more advanced and sophisticated when compared to previous attempts done by Hamas,” he said. “We see that they’re of course learning and upping their game.”
The scam culminated in the fake women asking IDF forces to download a link to an app similar to Snapchat, which would actually contain malware allowing their phones to be compromised by the Gaza Strip-based Hamas.
“Hamas created fake social media profiles, using photos including this one, in an attempt to hack the phones of IDF soldiers. What Hamas didn’t know was that Israeli intelligence caught onto their plot, tracked the malware & downed Hamas’ hacking system,” the IDF said, adding “#CatfishCaught,” a reference to the creation of fake online identities known as “catfishing.”
Hamas created fake social media profiles, using photos including this one, in an attempt to hack the phones of IDF soldiers.
What Hamas didn’t know was that Israeli intelligence caught onto their plot, tracked the malware & downed Hamas’ hacking system.#CatfishCaught
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) February 16, 2020
