Israel on knife-edge as Hamas releases 'hit list' of 2,000 Israeli forces

If you think that Israel and Hamas are fighting each other only on the battlefield, then think again.

There's a whole different level of warfare taking place simultaneously, and that is cyber warfare. And Hamas seems to have the upper hand at this moment.

Several media reports have claimed that the Hamas militant group has created detailed dossiers containing names and other personal details of over 2,000 Israeli soldiers.

These dossiers which run into over 200 pages were leaked online this week. An Israeli security source confirmed to the Haartez outlet that the report was made by Hamas.

Though the reports have been circulating online for many months now, their existence was made public recently recently.

They were shared with a group of international investigative reporters, led by Paper Trail Media in partnership with Germany's Die Zeit and ZDF, Austria's Der Standard, and Israel's Haaretz.

The purpose of these dossiers was clearly mentioned in them: 'revenge for the killers of the children of Gaza.'

Each report has the soldier's full name, base or unit, ID number, mobile phone number, email address, social media accounts, names of family members, and in some cases passwords, license plates, credit card numbers and bank account information.

According to Haaretz outlet, these dossiers were compiled after the Oct 7 attacks using information from various sources, including leaked data from previous hacks, social media scraping and public databases.

The source of these dossiers is reportedly Iranian origin. A group of cyber experts told Haaretz that the hackers are using Iranian software to collect massive private data available on the social media accounts of soldiers and officers in the Israeli Army.

Explaining in layman's terms how could this play out as a threat, a cyber security expert said that this information could be used to target soldiers, their families, or acquaintances and gain more intelligence and access to secrets.

Notably, this is not the first time that an Iranian hand has been suspected. In 2020, reams of personal information were stolen from the Shirbit Insurance Company, which is the main insurer to Israeli officials and senior employees. This was earlier categorised as a mere cybercrime, but it was later revealed that the attack was aimed at gathering intelligence.

The cyber experts described the operation as a serious war that accompanies the ongoing military war between Israel and Hamas, Hezbollah, and other militias serving the Iranian axis.