Hackers Posed as Flirtatious Women to Target Israeli Officials
- Suspected Hamas-aligned group used Facebook, Cybereason says
- Previous romance scams by group less sophisticated, firm says
Hackers with suspected ties to Hamas targeted Israeli defense, law enforcement and emergency service organizations by setting up bogus accounts that appeared to be women on Facebook, according to the Israeli cybersecurity firm Cybereason Inc.
The fake Facebook profiles were regularly maintained, conversed in Hebrew and interacted with Israeli citizens to boost their credibility, the researchers said. Attackers befriended connections of targeted individuals, earning the victims’ trust before starting intimate conversations and suggesting the conversations move to WhatsApp, according to a Cybereason report published Wednesday. Ultimately, the hackers tried duping victims into downloading malicious code that would give attackers complete access to their devices, including a phone’s camera, email and text messages.