The military on Tuesday said it has uncovered another Hamas plot to dupe Israeli soldiers on social media, this time using the popular photo and video-sharing network Instagram.
The terrorist group reportedly set up dozens of fake profiles featuring the images of attractive women to lure Israeli soldiers to engage in instant messaging, through which Hamas hoped to hack soldiers' phones and access as much information and intelligence on the IDF as possible.
Hamas has used these types of honeytraps in the past, first on Facebook and WhatsApp and most recently through a malicious World Cup score-tracking app and two bogus dating apps.
The three tainted Android apps, which have since been removed from the Google Play Store, were designed to infect troops' phones with data-stealing malware and turn on cameras and microphones for live spying.
The military said the Instagram ploy was uncovered after several soldiers became suspicious and alerted the IDF's Information Security Department.
"We have made it clear to all soldiers that even if Hamas sets up profiles on other networks or uses more apps, once they know how to recognize the problem their [mobile] devices won't be infected," said Lt. Col A., head of the IDF's Information Protection Unit.
"Given what we know about Hamas' activity [on Instagram] and the alerts from soldiers, we can say with absolute certainty that Hamas has failed and no classified information has leaked."
As for Hamas' choice of Instagram, he explained that "this is a network that is based on an intense culture of sharing [posts], and is all about 'Look at me.' The users' need to gain followers and popularity enhances the risk, which is why we urge soldiers to adhere to IDF guidelines – don't let people you don't know become followers and beware of unfamiliar links in your personal inbox."
