Iranians tried to hack state employees, researchers — Shin Bet

The Shin Bet security agency says it has revealed an Iranian phishing plot against Israeli civilians, mostly targeting state employees and researchers in order to obtain intelligence on the state.

According to the agency, Iranian operatives would contact Israeli targets on LinkedIn while posing as acquaintances, and the conversation would later to move to an email, where the operatives would either invite them to a conference or share a research paper.

The documents shared by the Iranian operatives, once opened, would grant them permission to the target’s computer, according to the agency, which says none of the phishing attempts were successful.

The Shin Bet says the initial messages with the Israelis were carefully written based on research the Iranian operatives had conducted into the various targets, with the subject matter being of interest to the target.

The agency says it managed to foil the attempts after many of the Israeli targets contacted the Shin Bet, alongside other actions it took.