ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 55

search

Report: Iran hacked Israeli cameras a year ago; defense officials knew, didn’t act

Iranian group controlled dozens of CCTV cameras for lengthy period, uploaded videos of weapons factory and Jerusalem terror bombing, according to exposé set to air in full Tuesday

Footage from a surveillance camera shows a deadly bombing attack in Jerusalem, November 24, 2022. The video was published by the Moses Staff Iranian hacker group. (Screenshot: Telegram, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
Footage from a surveillance camera shows a deadly bombing attack in Jerusalem, November 24, 2022. The video was published by the Moses Staff Iranian hacker group. (Screenshot: Telegram, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

The security establishment was aware for a year that an Iranian hacker group had seized control of dozens of Israeli security cameras, but did nothing to stop it, as the group published several videos from across Israel, including footage of an arms facility last year and of a terror attack in Jerusalem last month, a report said Monday evening

In a preview of a full investigative report set to be aired on Tuesday, the Kan public broadcaster said officials did not take action to secure the cameras, despite their knowledge of the activities of the group, known as Moses Staff. The report did not cite sources during Monday’s snippet.

The group published footage a year ago on its Telegram channel of the surroundings of Israel’s Rafael defense contractor factory in Haifa, as well as footage from cameras throughout Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

The group also published footage last month of a terror bombing attack in Jerusalem which left two people dead, from a surveillance camera apparently used by a major Israeli security organization.

According to Kan, hackers were able to pan, tilt and zoom cameras while they controlled them for a lengthy period. It was unclear if the cameras had since been proofed against the hackers.

Security officials told Kan that the videos uploaded by Moses Staff were recorded by civilian cameras that were not connected to any security network.

Kan said the full report will explore hackers efforts to monitor senior Israeli officials and shine a light on those behind Moses Staff.

The same hacker group claimed responsibility in June for a cyberattack that caused rocket sirens to go off in some areas of Jerusalem and the southern city of Eilat.

Moses Staff in the past year said it leaked sensitive information about soldiers, which appeared to be publicly available information on LinkedIn, and aerial imagery of Israel, which was obtained through a commercial site.

In another unsubstantiated assertion, the group claimed to have caused an army observation balloon to crash in the Gaza Strip in June. The military said the balloon was not tethered correctly.

Emanuel Fabian contributed to this report.

read more:
Never miss breaking news on Israel
Get notifications to stay updated
You're subscribed
image
Register for free
and continue reading
Registering also lets you comment on articles and helps us improve your experience. It takes just a few seconds.
Already registered? Enter your email to sign in.
Please use the following structure: example@domain.com
Or Continue with
By registering you agree to the terms and conditions. Once registered, you’ll receive our Daily Edition email for free.
Register to continue
Or Continue with
Log in to continue
Sign in or Register
Or Continue with
check your email
Check your email
We sent an email to you at .
It has a link that will sign you in.