Palestinian Territories: Gaza hackers prey on Israel's "new friends"
Gaza hackers attack countries that have just normalized their relations with Israel.
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Text by: Alice Froussard Follow
4 min
Hackers located in the Gaza Strip have stepped up their attacks since Arab countries' recent normalizations with Israel.
These hackers are known to be part of the Gaza cybergang, hackers from Hamas, the Islamist organization in power in the coastal enclave.
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From our correspondent in the Palestinian Territories,
Since the
normalization of relations
between the UAE and Israel, followed by Bahrain, Sudan, Morocco, cyber attacks by Hamas hackers have increased.
They are particularly recognizable thanks to their very particular operating mode.
This week, leaders and diplomats in Dubai, Turkey and Egypt have all received - via Facebook, Google Drive or DropBox, to avoid the cyber security installed on computers - a PDF file to open.
A file with an enticing promise: the revelation of the content of
the secret meeting
between Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister, and Mohammed Ben Salman, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia.
This meeting took place at the end of November on the shores of the Red Sea and was revealed in the press but we do not know more about what really happened.
This promise is just one way to get diplomats to download this file, and as soon as they click on it ... the leaders are in fact activating spyware and this Hamas cyber gang in Gaza therefore has access to everything. He wishes.
Israeli officers trapped
These cyber attacks on Gaza are not new.
It has been known since at least 2012 that Hamas has a unit specializing in what can be called electronic warfare, known as Gaza Cybergang.
Their main goal has been to shake the Israelis, where they are known to be very strong.
These hackers have repeatedly attempted to infect the cellphones of Israeli soldiers in order to better extract information.
What especially makes their attacks new and unique is the bait.
This time it was the revelation of the Netanyahu MBS meeting, but it was often what are known as "
honey traps
," where Hamas hackers lured Israeli soldiers with photos of them. young pretty sexy women.
The hackers sent selfies that they had recovered and as soon as the conversation was established with the Israeli soldiers, they asked them to install an application and therefore software that took control of the phone.
This is how hundreds of soldiers, sometimes even officers, were trapped.
In retaliation, the Israeli army targeted Hamas' cyber-neighborhood in Gaza last year.
Geopolitics and cyber attacks
But recent attacks - not on Israelis but on other Arab countries - started in September and peaked in October and November.
These attacks are well linked to recent political and geopolitical developments and this is what makes them unique in their kind, as they show the correlation between cyber-offensive and geopolitical events.
Just days ago, the UAE announced it had been the target of a cyber attack, but researchers declined to say whether it was the same operation or not.
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Palestinian territories
Israel
Cybercriminality