Israel's Shin Bet security service and the National Cyber Directorate issued a warning Sunday about a new wave of phishing attacks by Iranian intelligence operatives targeting Israeli journalists and media professionals. The campaign aims to extract information amid recent political and security developments in the region, according to the agencies, which said they have identified the attempts and are working to prevent and thwart them.
The attacks typically involve contact with journalists primarily through WhatsApp or Telegram, with operatives impersonating familiar figures and crafting personalized messages tailored to the target's professional interests and beat. Common lures include collaboration proposals, interview invitations, or requests for conversations.
The messages are designed to establish seemingly credible contact and trick recipients into clicking links purportedly for scheduling meetings. These links actually lead to fake pages requesting login credentials for Google accounts, or direct users to open malicious links and files that can compromise mobile devices. In some cases, attackers impersonate well-known journalists to approach their colleagues.
