IDF Thwarts Hamas' Plot To Use Fake Social Media Profiles To Hack Soldiers' Phones

IDF Thwarts Hamas' Plot to Use Fake Social Media Profiles to Hack Soldiers' Phones

TEL AVIV (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th February, 2020) The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) has thwarted an attempt by Hamas Islamist movement to hack phones of IDF servicemen by using fake social network accounts, Israel's military said on Sunday.

"Hamas created fake social media profiles, using photos [of young women] 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 tweeted, posting one of the used images.

According to IDF international spokesman Jonathan Conricus, Hamas used computer-generated female voices to talk with the soldiers and send them audio messages. After finding their mark, a "girl" offered to continue talking via special programs, which, when downloaded, plants malware accessing all the phone's data and even able of making distant camera shots.

The IDF spokesman says it has been the third such an attempt in the last three years and a half, with Hamas using more and more sophisticated methods each time.