Hamas hacked Israeli soldiers through World Cup phone app, Israel claims

‘Operation Broken Heart’ finds Palestinian militants allegedly using increasingly sophisticated football and dating apps to spy on young troops

Israeli Search and Rescue brigade soldiers rest during a training session in Ben Shemen forest, near the city of Modi'in, on 23 May 2016 (Reuters)

Palestinian Islamist group Hamas used fake football and dating applications to hack the mobile phones of Israeli soldiers, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) has claimed.

A World Cup app and two dating apps for Android phones available on the Israeli version of the Google Play store were loaded with data stealing malware, military security officers told reporters at a briefing in Tel Aviv on Tuesday.

The malicious apps reportedly gave Gaza based Hamas the ability to access locations and copy contacts, files and photos, as well as hack cameras and microphones for spying purposes.

‘Golden Cup’ which appeared last month ahead of the Fifa World Cup in Russia, was “actually a very good [app]”, offering HD live streaming of matches, summaries and live updates, one of the officers said, on condition of anonymity under military intelligence rules.

Around 100 soldiers – men and women – downloaded the apps after being contacted and asked to do so by militants, who mostly posed as attractive young people on social media, the IDF said.

The Israeli personnel either reported the incident to superiors or were located by military security analysts before any damage was done, the authorities said of their counter efforts, codenamed Operation Broken Heart.

The IDF did not expand on what led it to believe Hamas was responsible for planting the malware. The Palestinian organisation declined to comment on the allegations and the apps have since been removed from the store.

The incident is not the first time Hamas has allegedly attempted to hack Israeli soldiers’ phones.

Last year the IDF reported dozens of soldiers were contacted by militants through “honeypot” social media profiles – using stolen pictures of mostly European women – who asked them to download “Trojan horse” messaging applications.

“What Hamas is bringing to the table is a very good knowledge of our young people and their state of mind,“ an officer said, noting how the Palestinian group had used Hebrew slang and more sophisticated apps.

Agencies contributed to this report