Hamas used photographs of attractive young women to infect the cell phones of dozens of Israeli soldiers, the Israeli army said, saying it had stopped the attack.
The phones of a few dozen soldiers were hit, but the army “does not conclude that there has been a substantial information breach,” said army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus, quoted by AFP.
According to the same source, this was the third attempted attack with malware (program or file that is designed to cause damage to a computer, mobile phone, server, client or computer network) in less than four years. This attempt, however, shows that the Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip has improved its capacity for cyber warfare.
“What we are talking about today is more advanced,” he said. “They are improving their game.”
According to Conricus, the attacks began with messages from alleged attractive women. The texts were sent via Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, as well as via Telegram, which Israel says Hamas had not used before.
“Hamas created fake social media profiles using photos like this, in an attempt to pirate the mobile phones of Israeli Defense Forces soldiers. What Hamas didn’t know was that Israeli intelligence services discovered the plan, tracked the malware and overthrew Hamas’s piracy system, ”they wrote on Twitter.
And released one of the images used.
To avoid telephone contact with soldiers, the people behind the messages said they heard badly or were newcomers to Israel and spoke poor Hebrew.
Once contact was established, new messages encouraged soldiers to click on a link to download an application that would facilitate the exchange of images.
These applications, which the army identified as Catch & See, ZatuApp and GrixyApp, sought to infect soldiers’ mobile phones with malware that would give Hamas full access to the device.
The army said the attack began several months ago and that Israel has undertaken “defensive activities” in recent days, but has not ruled out the possibility of further retaliation.
“Hamas’ hostile actions in the virtual world have repercussions in the real world,” said Conricus.
Hamas and Israel have fought three wars since 2008, but in the past year Islamists have been developing an information truce, with the Jewish state easing its paralyzing blockade of Gaza.
Israel justifies the blockade with the need to contain Hamas – considered a terrorist organization by much of the western world – which has controlled the Palestinian enclave since 2007.
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