Hamas operated extensive fake Facebook profile networks in order to target Israeli security establishment officials, according to N12.
Hamas reportedly operated the network for several months in order to obtain surveillance and sensitive information on those targeted, according to an Israeli-owned company based in the U.S., Cybereason
According to Cybereason, Hamas used photos of women to lure in Israeli security establishment officials. Mostly young men in the IDF and other security forces and emergency services were targeted. Cybereason said that phishing was conducted by people with extensive research in order to create authentic-looking profiles.
The “sexy catfish” would begin conversations on Facebook or Twitter, and then, would urge the Israeli men to move the conversations onto WhatsApp for more “intimate” conversations. This is how their phone numbers were acquired. On WhatsApp, the conversations would become more personal as well as more sexual.
Once trust was established, the men were asked to download an app, claiming that it was a safer and more discrete way of communication. The Android app is actually a malware, called VotatileVenom, and this malware reportedly would give the attacker complete remote access to the phone.
Further attempts were then made, with the catfishers convincing targets to use computers at work, because sensitive information was contained there and therefore could potentially be accessed. Cybereason says this was in order to infiltrate IDF and other enforcement authorities’ computer networks.
Cybereason says that Facebook and Meta have been notified, as well as relevant Israeli bodies.
Cybereason was founded in 2012 by an ex-soldier from Israel’s Unit 8200, which is the Israeli Intelligence Corps unit of the Israel Defense Forces, responsible for collecting signal intelligence and code decryption.
This is not the first time fake Israeli profiles have been created with a purpose recently. Thousands of fake profiles were created on Facebook over the past 18 months in order to support different controversial policies and public figures, according to an investigation by Israeli disinformation research firm FakeReporter. It was thought, however, that these profiles were originally Nepalese in origin.
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