Hezbollah’s virtual spies exposed: IDF soldiers targeted on social media

The IDF revealed Thursday evening that the Information Security Directorate of the Intelligence Directorate foiled, in a unique procedure, an infrastructure of dozens of fictitious online profiles of Hezbollah terrorists who use social networks as a means of gathering intelligence in order to trick IDF soldiers and try to extract sensitive information from them about their location at bases in the country and the locations of forces.

These terrorists pose as fictitious online figures who sometimes identify themselves as IDF soldiers. The characters maintain personal relationships with soldiers through correspondence, recordings and video calls.

The IDF uses many advanced capabilities to locate fictitious profiles in order to protect our forces in the Internet space from hostile elements.

Monitoring soldiers on social networks is one of the enemy's methods of enriching intelligence. IDF service members and the general public are asked to be as vigilant as possible on the subject and continue to report suspicious figures appearing on the various digital networks to the various professional bodies and to take steps to protect privacy online.

* Channel 14 contributed to this article.