Palestinians, believed to be working for Hamas, have tried to install malware the mobile phones of Israeli soldiers. The operation involved girls offering romantic chat in Hebrew. Having established a connection, soldiers were told that they needed to download a program so that the girl could share pictures and private conversations. If they did access the programme, a malware file was downloaded. This enabled remote access to location, usage data and other files such as emails. It also allowed remote access to the phone’s camera and microphone. The possible threats to operational security can be imagined.
This is the third time that Hamas has tried to hack soldiers’ phones, but Israeli security sources say that this was the most sophisticated attempt yet. It mirrors malware that the NSA and GCHQ uses, previously known as SMURF.