PNN – The Israeli Foreign Ministry warned its employees after the numbers of diplomats and employees of the institution were added to Whatsapp groups active in Iran.
According to the report of Pakistan News Network, citing Yedioth Ahronoth, the Israeli Foreign Ministry warned the employees and diplomats of the Tel Aviv Foreign Ministry, referring to what it called the addition of the phone numbers of diplomats and employees of this institution to Whatsapp groups active in Iran.
The media outlet quoted a security officer at the Israeli Foreign Ministry as saying: Recently, reports have been received about people being added to Whatsapp groups, not through their contacts. These groups are created and managed by our enemies from phone numbers inside Iran, Pakistan and other regions. Therefore, it is necessary to be vigilant about the groups you join or add to, and you should change your settings (on your phone) to only allow you to be added to groups by contacts you have saved on your phone.
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According to Ynet, this internal letter was issued after receiving numerous reports of Israelis being recruited through social media to spy for Iran and Tehran contacting Israelis for the purpose of intimidation and recruitment.
The Times of Israel reported that Israel’s Cybersecurity Authority announced last month that it was investigating a wave of reports from Israelis who had received calls allegedly from Iran, including recorded messages in Hebrew aimed at recruiting, threatening and intimidating them.
The outlet added that in June, during the 12-day war with Iran, several Israeli political figures received threatening phone calls from Iran. The Islamic Republic also hacked the cell phone of Ayelet Shaked, a former Israeli justice minister who also has a degree in computer engineering.
According to The Times of Israel, “Most espionage suspects start out by performing seemingly innocuous tasks in exchange for money, which gradually escalate into more serious offenses such as intelligence gathering and planning assassination operations.”