Israeli soldiers' details leaked in suspected Iranian hack

The personal details of hundred of Israeli army members was leaked online by a group of suspected Iranian hackers, who go by the moniker 'Moses Staff'.
2 min read
27 October, 2021
The hackers issued a warning to Benny Gantz [Getty]

Iranian hackers released a trove of files on Tuesday detailing the details of hundreds of Israeli army personnel, according to Ynetnews.

The leaked files include details relating to the combat brigade of military members, job descriptions, names, email addresses, phone numbers, as well as the residential address of brigade members. 

An Iranian hacking group named "Moses Staff" is believed to be behind the data leak. 

In a statement posted online, the group boasted they had access to "operational maps" and claimed they would reveal information about the "Israeli authorities' crimes".

"We’ve kept an eye on you for many years, at every moment and on each step [sic]. All your decisions and statements have been under our surveillance. Eventually, we will strike you while [sic] you never would have imagined," the group wrote. 

"We have access to the confidential documents of the defence ministry and [Defence Minister] Benny Gantz, including the news, operational maps, information relevant to the potentiality of forces and units, letters and correspondences. We are going to publish this information to aware [sic] all the world about the Israeli authorities’ crimes," they continued. 

The New Arab could not independently verify the source of the message.

According to Ynet, the information was leaked onto the dark web and the Telegram messaging app. 

Included in the leaked data were details of reserve Israeli army soldiers and other military units, with names, ranks, roles, and letters explaining absences, also visible. 

Other leaked documents show the names of thousands of teenagers who are set to enlist in the Israeli army, in addition to the details of those in pre-service programmes. 

A number of pictures of Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz were also leaked, including one image of him pretending to milk a model cow. 

Further to the leak of military information, "Moses Staff" also released databases detailing information on thousands of Israelis. 

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This information is believed to have been stolen from the computers of private companies. 

In response to the leak, the Israel National Cyber Directorate on Wednesday called on Israeli organisations to be vigilant and take precautions. 

"We call upon organisations to implement the latest critical updates that Microsoft has released to deal with these weaknesses, which is a simple, free update that can reduce the risk of this attack," they said. 

News of the military information leak came a day after 4,300 petrol stations across Iran were severely affected by a suspected cyber attack.