Beirut, Wednesday, October 2, 2024 | Since the onset of its military aggression on Gaza and Lebanon, the Israeli occupation has been infiltrating and weaponizing communications platforms to inflict fear and terror among civilians. With the barbaric escalation in Beirut, the South, and other regions in Lebanon over the last two weeks, we have witnessed a wide range of new digital tactics deployed to create further panic and confusion.
The Occupation Targets Telecom Infrastructure
Israel’s attacks extend beyond psychological warfare and disinformation, directly targeting and destroying mobile towers as well. Telecommunications minister Johnny Corm reported the latest attack on a tower in Beirut’s southern suburb on October 2, 2024.
On Monday, October 1, an Israeli airstrike destroyed the main internet station supplying cables of sub-networks in villages across Al-Zahrani in southern Lebanon. The strike left residents with limited access to the internet, forcing many to rely on costly cellular data—if they could access it at all.
Is Someone Addressing You by Name on WhatsApp?
After documenting the multitude of phishing attacks and fake eviction calls that the Lebanese people have received for the past weeks, a new type of message, somewhat disturbing, has surfaced. These messages now include the recipient’s actual name, as shown in the image below (name blurred for privacy).
Text reads: “Hello [NAME] how are you? I am Ikael from Greater Israel, screw you. I know about your analysis of what happened to your Sayyed Nasrallah, sorry about that.”
These digital traps are emerging rapidly, making it difficult to determine their exact purpose. It could simply be a foul trick, or something more serious. Our Digital Safety Helpdesk is actively monitoring and investigating these messages. It’s possible they’re part of an organized digital army tasked with tracking social media posts and comments to target and threaten authors.
Disabling Geolocation: Is It Necessary?
Over the last few days, social media and messaging platforms have been flooded with posts and forwarded messages urging users to disable the geolocation feature on their devices to protect themselves from being tracked and targeted by the Israeli occupation.
Phones already hold and collect large amounts of data. According to the Digital Safety Helpdesk at SMEX, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have different tools and methods that enable them to determine an individual’s location, be it through phone number, network interception, frequency analysis and metadata, airplanes without a pilot, or through their collaboration with technology companies. Therefore, tracking your GPS might be the last thing the occupation resorts to.
Text: “Tell everyone in Lebanon to turn off the ‘Location’ feature. Very important, spread widely.”
Use Signal for Messaging!
Our Digital Safety Helpdesk recommends using Signal at all times, but especially during the current aggression in Lebanon. WhatsApp has become a prominent target of phishing attacks and digital threats and we advise against avoiding any links received through the popular messaging app.
According to the platform, Signal does not track data and metadata or save conversations on its servers. The messages are also end-to-end encrypted and do not get saved on any server except on the devices of the users who have complete control over them.
Once messages are deleted from a conversation on Signal, they are deleted forever. The app also does not allow tracking the user’s location using GPS technology. Finally, there is no evidence that Signal has any ties with Israel, unlike WhatsApp’s parent company Meta.
So far and under the current circumstances, Signal is the safest option to communicate.
Tips to Enhance Your Security Online:
- Check which apps have permission to access your accounts.
- Tech companies will never communicate with you through Direct Messages (DM), never enter passwords on links sent through private messages!
- Ignore calls and messages from strange or foreign numbers.
- Subscribe to fact-checking platforms such as Sawab and Fatabyyano.
- Enhance the protection of your accounts on apps by following these steps.
As always, we are here for you. If you suspect any form of digital threat, contact our Digital Safety Helpdesk:
Signal/WhatsApp: + 961 81 633 133
Email: helpdesk@smex.org
