The Handala hacker group has launched a targeted attack against Israeli professionals in the high-tech and aerospace sectors, indicating a worrying shift towards more intense, geopolitically motivated cyberattacks.
See also: Microsoft: Restricts Israel's access to Cloud and AI products
Recently, the group published a list of individuals working in these critical industries, accompanied by aggressive comments falsely attributing criminal qualities to them.
This action marks an escalation from simple propaganda to active doxxing and information gathering of private sector workers. The core of the attack concerns the public disclosure of personal and professional information of Israeli experts.
Handala made the data archive available on a dark web platform and offered financial incentives to those who could provide additional information on the targeted individuals. This “bounty”-style tactic creates a crowdsourced information gathering mechanism, amplifying the threat beyond the initial leak and putting ordinary professionals at risk.
See also: Cyberattack disrupts payment systems in Israel
Security researchers at Trustwave discovered this activity during ongoing dark web surveillance operations. Their analysis showed that the published dataset is largely based on information pulled from LinkedIn profiles. However, the experts noted several inconsistencies, such as people who had left the companies years ago, employees without sensitive roles, and profiles that had no verifiable connection to the tech sector.
Technical examination of Handala's methods shows a combination of automated data collection and manual modification.
See also: Israeli hackers from Intellexa were operating under the protection of the EYP
Some profiles could not be located or verified, suggesting that the group may be supplementing authentic LinkedIn data with fabricated records or information from unverifiable sources. Security experts recommend increased attention to personal data management, ongoing monitoring for identity-related threats, and awareness programs within organizations to address similar targeted attacks in the future.
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