Iranians tried to collect information from Israeli researchers and civil servants in a phishing campaign by using fake profiles on LinkedIn, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) said Sunday.
These fake accounts would contact Israelis on LinkedIn and send a file for either an invite to a conference or for articles and studies.
However, these files were actually malware that would allow the senders to take control of their victims’ computers.
How did the Iranian phishing campaign happen?
According to the Shin Bet, the messages they received were all personalized and followed a prior data-collection effort focusing on these targets.
However, it was the keen vigilance of the Israeli public that stopped this phishing campaign from being successful, the Shin Bet said.
A hacker is being depicted in this illustrative photo (credit: Courtesy)The Israeli security service said that it, “alongside our partners in the intelligence community, are working to disrupt and thwart Iranian attempts on gathering data on Israeli citizens,” and said it called on the public to watch out for other phishing attempts online.
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