Digital deception: How fake Instagram profiles target IDF soldiers
Digital deception: How fake Instagram profiles target IDF soldiers
The IDF has revealed some of the names of the avatar accounts that are at the forefront of a network of fake profiles whose entire purpose is to gather information about the activities of the IDF
Meet Noa Levi (levi.2001noa). Noa is originally from Ireland, where she studied at the University of Dublin. She currently lives in Israel, specifically in Eilat, and serves in the Air Force at Hatzerim base. In her free time she likes to swim and spend time in nature.
You can try and get to know Lenny Harel too (lennyharel). Lenny loves beauty, music and peace. She used to travel the world, especially in Canada, and take pictures. Lenny loves the IDF very much, and follows its activities regularly. To contribute her part, she even shares IDF publications!
Now, forget about knowing these two women because they don't exist in reality at all. A month ago, the Israeli military exposed an infrastructure of fake accounts with profiles impersonating young women, attempting to entice Israeli soldiers to provide them with information about the IDF's activities in the war. This week, the names of the accounts and profiles were also revealed. Noa and Lenny are just two from an extensive network of avatars that are at the forefront of a network of fake accounts, whose entire purpose is to gather information about the activities of the IDF, the magnitude of forces, and the location of military units.
The network activated dozens of avatars with fake profiles operated by real people to contact soldiers, mainly on Instagram, and conduct text, recording, and video calls with them. According to the army, behind the network are hostile agents who serve the murderous terrorist organization Hamas, and it is operated by Iran-backed countries and organizations.
The infrastructure used by the hostile elements included authentic images, as they tried to manage a kind of romantic relationship in a variety of ways, including correspondence, voice recordings, and video calls. To strengthen its credibility, around each avatar that posed as a young woman, another set of avatars was created as siblings, parents, and friends of the fictitious character. In addition, a lot of effort was invested in creating a presentation of young women with hundreds of followers and unfollowed, dozens of shares of photos and videos, and even a list of hobbies or professional occupation in the biography section.
The investigation was carried out by the information security system, based on network monitoring, technological ripping and identification of connections between the figures. The IDF asked the soldiers and the public to continue to be vigilant on the issue and report to the authorities.
Fictitious characters included:
- Noa Simon Noa (noasimon), is a 25 years old, originally from Italy, immigrated to Israel a year and a half ago and lives in Eilat with her brother "Michael" and sister "Shira" (also fictitious and fake characters). For a living, she works in high-tech, and frequently flies to Europe. Very worried about the war.
- Shaked Brown (Shaked_brown1) is a law student, and often speaks about issues related to human rights. She likes to walk in nature.
- Zina (zina11133) is originally Danish, and currently lives in Eilat. An 18-year-old who likes to go to the mall with friends and do yoga.
- Liat Cohen (liatocohen) lives in the city of Eilat. She is a software engineer, and graduated with a bachelor's degree from Ben Gurion University in the Negev.
- Emily (_emily_psychology) is 24 years old, originally from Germany, and today lives in Israel. She got a master's degree in individual psychology at Kyiv University in Ukraine. Publishes content related to psychology.
- Michael Simon (michael_simon__) is originally from Italy, and currently lives in Eilat with his sisters "Noa" and "Shira" from Simon family. Michael makes a living as a DJ and likes to celebrate at parties.
