Operatives of the terrorist group Hamas targeted dozens of Israeli soldiers in 'catfishing' scheme to lure them with fake social media profiles of beautiful women.
The unsuspecting soldier is seduced into downloading a snapchat-like android app which contains malware. This allows the terrorists to hijack and control the phone's cameras, and to transmit photos, audio recordings, messages and files back to Hamas servers.
According to a Spokesman of the Israeli Defense Force IDF, Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, “Hamas is upping its game.” But he said the military foiled the attacks.
Conricus said Hamas made the mistake of reusing a fake identity that Israel had already discovered from a previous cyberattack.
"We do not assess there is any significant breach of information," he said.
Conricus said this was the third attempt by Hamas to 'catfish' Israeli soldiers, most recently in July 2018. He said the latest attempt was by far the most sophisticated.
IDF routinely warn its soldiers to be aware of online honeypot scams by Hamas and other terror groups.