Hamas using WhatsApp to collect intelligence on IDF movements
The IDF has warned troops to report all suspicious messages to commanders.
By ANNA AHRONHEIMHamas Chief Ismail Haniyeh attends a meeting with members of international media at his office in Gaza City, June 20, 2019(photo credit: MOHAMMED SALEM/ REUTERS)
Hamas has once again been trying to obtain intelligence from Israeli troops stationed along the Gaza border using online messaging applications.Posing as fellow soldiers, Hamas operatives contacted troops on the WhatsApp text messaging service asked for intelligence such as troop movements.One combat soldier serving in the Paratrooper’s brigade received a text message on WhatsApp from an unknown person asking to send dates of the next exercises the brigade was expecting to hold in the coming months, and when the troops were scheduled to leave the area.Despite the Hamas operative sending the soldier information on the brigade, likely taken from another soldier the operative contacted, the paratrooper did not divulge any intelligence and alerted his commanders.According to Ynet, an investigation was launched into how the Hamas operative received the classified information.“The IDF is aware of the enemy’s activity, and is following its efforts over social media,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit acknowledged. “We call on all military and civilian personnel to act carefully and responsibly. We would like to point out that this year marks the anniversary of Operation Heartbreaker, in which the IDF exposed Hamas activity against IDF soldiers on social networks. The operation contributed greatly to raising the awareness and alertness of the soldiers, which is also reflected in the current event.”The IDF recently launched two operations uncovering networks of Hamas operatives trying to lure soldiers through smartphone applications. According to the army, there have been hundreds of reports of suspicious individuals approaching soldiers online since January 2017.The military first uncovered Hamas attempt to honeypot male soldiers online that January in an operation dubbed “Hunter’s Network,” where dozens of accounts on social networks like Facebook were identified as being operated with false or stolen identities, with the intent of extracting classified information from both regular and reservist soldiers.The IDF’s Military Intelligence Directorate later launched “Operation Heartbreaker” and uncovered another cell behind suspicious online actions targeting soldiers on social networks, as well as on messaging applications such as WhatsApp, using Israeli numbers to get soldiers to download applications from Google’s official store.The military urged troops to only confirm friendship requests from people they know personally, to not upload any classified information to any social network, and to only download applications from the original App Store.Troops were also warned that if they were approached by a stranger online, to be aware that it might be an attempt to honeypot them, especially if the suspicious individual is unable to meet in person.The IDF has urged all soldiers, including reserve soldiers, to report to their commander and to security officials if the suspicious individual asks them to download applications, and if they feel that their phone may have been compromised.
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