Image courtesy of DWilliams from Pixabay
Reportedly, Islamic terrorists have been trying to snare Israeli men in a net of torment via the lure of sexy online gals.
On Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces tweeted such, claiming Hamas created phony lady profiles — including photos of the bewitching babes — in order to hack the phones of soldiers.
From the Twitter post:
“Hamas created fake social media profiles, using photos including this one, in an attempt to hack the phones of IDF soldiers.”
But the joke was on Hamas:
“What Hamas didn’t know was that Israeli intelligence caught onto their plot, tracked the malware & downed Hamas’ hacking system.”
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) February 16, 2020
Terrorism meets catfishing.
From Wikipedia:
Catfishing is a deceptive activity where a person creates a sockpuppet social networking presence, or fake identity on a social network account, usually targeting a specific victim for abuse, deception, or fraud. Catfishing is often employed for romance scams on dating websites
Hence, the hashtag #CatfishCaught.
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
According to IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, this recent fishing expedition took it up a notch technologically.
From Fox News:
IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus told Fox News that the attack was “more advanced” than previous “catfish”-style hacking attempts by Hamas. The fake women, he explained, reached out to young male soldiers via Facebook, Instagram and, for the first time, the Telegram messaging app. At one point the soldiers were then asked to download a different app via direct link. Once downloaded, the soldiers’ phones were infected, and the women “disappeared,” according to Conricus.
The app, which is described as similar to Snapchat, used the phones’ camera, locations and gave Hamas almost complete access to the soldiers’ phones.
The hacking attempt by Hamas displayed a new level of sophistication. “They are learning and upping their game,” Conricus said. The fake profiles described the young women as new immigrants to Israel, and their messages contained spelling mistakes and Hebrew slang.
To protect the scam, Hamas tried to prevent the photos from being reverse-searched on Google.
But not all fell for the scam, so — as per Fox — “the attack was carefully monitored by the Israeli military before being thwarted.”
A few dozen Israeli soldiers’ phones were affected by the malware, according to Conricus, who said that no significant damage was caused by the attack. Many of the infected phones are being monitored by the Israel Security Agency (ISA) and IDF cyber units.
As relayed by the Times of Israel, IDF employed the country’s Shin Bet security service to foil the piscary plot.
Thankfully, in the end, all was well.
There are a lot of enticements on the worldwide web; but you never really know who you’re talking to.
For a bunch of soldiers in the Holy Land, that hot chick was nothing but a cold fish.
-ALEX
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