Hamas-linked hackers target Israeli officials to gain sensitive data

The fake Facebook profiles were regularly maintained, conversed in Hebrew and interacted with Israelis to boost their credibility, the researchers said.

"The operators seem to have invested considerable effort in 'tending' these profiles, expanding their social network by joining popular Israeli groups, writing posts in Hebrew, and adding friends of the potential victims as friends," the Cybereason report stated.

The purpose of the hacking campaign was to extract sensitive information for espionage, Cybereason said. The attackers also urged victims to open a file purportedly containing a video with sexual content. In fact, the file contained malware and infected a victim's device when opened, according to the researchers.

Cybereason attributed the attack with moderate-high confidence to an alleged Hamas-supported hacking group called APT-C-23, according to the report. In this instance, the group targeted dozens of people and successfully infected devices and computers, according to Cybereason researchers, who declined to identify the targets.

The attacks, dubbed Operation Bearded Barbie, reveals the extent that Hamas, the Islamic resistance group in the Gaza Strip, has improved its cyber capabilities, the researchers said. The company did not disclose how many devices were infected.

"The use of meticulous social engineering combined with sophisticated attack tools may cause great damage to the state of Israel," Mr Lior Div, chief executive officer of Cybereason said in a statement.