A wave of Iranian propaganda messages in Hebrew swept across Israel overnight Monday into Tuesday. Users reported receiving SMS messages calling on them to cooperate with Iran. The Israel National Cyber Directorate has previously warned about malicious messages aimed at sowing panic, and recommended, among other things, ignoring such messages, blocking the number and marking it as spam.
One of the messages read: "The Islamic Republic of Iran invites you to cooperate in the field of intelligence. To cooperate, contact Iranian embassies in various countries or one of the Iranian cyber operatives online."
Other messages included: "All Israelis must sacrifice themselves for the prime minister. He will never be tried or arrested. His trial is a show. Almost three years of futile war and thousands killed because of the failure to bring one man to justice."
Additional messages read: "We promised you that soon you would see stars in the night sky that are not stars ... Soon you will see the sun in the night sky but ...," and "We are buying your videos about Iran's war against Israel."
According to the Israel National Cyber Directorate, the text messages contain messages intended to manipulate people and try to cause citizens to send personal information to hostile elements under false pretenses, or to frighten them and harm morale. The reports are being examined and investigated by the directorate, which is working to identify the source of the distribution and stop it from continuing.
The messages were sent from numbers bearing fictitious names, such as IntelOp. "The Israel Police and the Israel National Cyber Directorate continuously warn of Iranian attempts to recruit collaborators online, and many cases have been reported in which collaborators were caught, ultimately arrested and indicted."
The Cyber Directorate reminds the public what to do if they receive a message from suspicious sources:
- Ignore the message and delete it.
- Do not share or forward the message.
- Do not click on unfamiliar links, even if the message includes your name or personal details.
- Report such messages to the Israel National Cyber Directorate's 119 hotline.
- To report other cyber, phishing or fake content incidents, call the Israel National Cyber Directorate's 119 hotline.
