Act on the Hack

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Act-on-the-hack-583767

By JPost Editorial
The Jerusalem Post
March 17, 2019

The report that Blue and White leader and former IDF chief of staff Benny 
Gantz's phone was hacked raises many questions. Who broke into his phone? What 
did they find there? Does it leave him susceptible to blackmail and other 
pressures? Why are we only finding out about it now, four months after the Shin 
Bet (Israel Security Agency) informed Gantz of the breach?

The original report on Channel 12 about the matter said Iran hacked Gantz's 
phone. We soon learned that there was no concern that sensitive security 
materials were found, which makes sense, since the hack took place years after 
Gantz’s retirement from the IDF, and he has not worked in a national security 
role since.

Still, that didn't stop rumors from flying about awkward personal materials 
being on the phone. Blue and White emphatically denied them, adding that Gantz 
has never been blackmailed. Instead, the party blamed Prime Minister Benjamin 
Netanyahu and his staff for spreading the innuendo.

At the same time, according to Amit Segal, the journalist who broke the story 
about the hacked phone, neither Gantz nor the Shin Bet denied that Iran was 
behind the hack, though some in Blue and White continue to point fingers 
elsewhere. Former defense minister Moshe Ya'alon in an interview with Army 
Radio, for example, called this a "typical Netanyahu trick," and said he has 
"difficulty believing the Iranians are interested in Benny Gantz’s phone."

[...]

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