Hamas terrorists hacked the phones of Israeli soldiers by posing as buxom young women on the internet, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
The Palestinian terrorist group created fake social media profiles, mostly on Facebook, and lured soldiers into downloading an app that allowed its agents to take control of camera’s and microphones soldiers’ phones, according to a Reuters report.
“Just a second, I’ll send you a photo, my dear,” a spoofed woman named Elianna told an IDF soldier.
“OK. Ha-ha,” said the targeted soldier. A photo of a blonde woman in a swimsuit followed shortly after.
Posing as young women, Hamas penetrates soldiers’ phones; Israeli army steps up online rules https://t.co/AqUT7mbccU pic.twitter.com/6y81s959Xs
— Aüd™ (@CodeAud) January 12, 2017
The terrorist then told the soldier to download a “simple app that lets us have a video chat” named “apkpk.” Instead of a video chat app, apkpk was actually malware.
The trick appeared to have worked only on low-ranking soldiers, and led to no significant intelligence leak. The terrorist group appeared more interested in learning about Israeli army movements, forces and weapons, an Israeli officer told reporters. The IDF’s Information Security Unit, a sub-group of the Intelligence Directorate, discovered the Hamas plot after soldiers began reporting other suspicious activity targeting IDF soldiers using fake profiles.
The IDF’s blog issued some recommendations on how soldiers can avoid falling prey to a similar trap.
“Turning off the GPS on your phone when it’s not in use can make yourself harder to track, and only clicking links from people you trust can help, too,” said the IDF Blog in a post Wednesday. “If anything looks fishy – like an email with an uncharacteristic subject line and an attachment you’re not expecting to receive – don’t download or click it.”
It also suggested not accepting social media friend requests from strangers and only downloading apps that are familiar.
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