Likud MKs Tally Gotliv and Moshe Saada informed the Knesset officer today (Wednesday) that their personal mobile phones had recently been hacked. The information taken from the phones was allegedly spread on the dark web, as reported by Walla! News' Yehuda Shlezinger.
The two MKs stated that a former police officer who is currently involved in cyberspace alerted them that information that had been hacked from their phone was being distributed on the dark web.
Last week, the Iranian hacker group "Handala" claimed to have hacked the personal phone of former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. According to a statement released today (Wednesday), they reportedly exposed a list of his contacts from an iPhone 13, a chat conversation with Avia Sassi, several pictures, two videos, and an audio recording. Among the names that were leaked along with phone numbers were the UAE Prime Minister Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and French President Emmanuel Macron. Bennett's office responded that his phone had been checked, and the device had not been hacked.
A statement from Bennett's office said: "The issue is being handled by security authorities. Israel's enemies will do everything to prevent me from becoming Prime Minister again. It will not help them. No one will stop me from acting and fighting for the State of Israel and the Jewish people. After further investigation, it appears that while my phone itself was not hacked, access was gained to my Telegram account in various ways. Content from my phone's contact list, as well as authentic and fake photos and chats (including a photo of me next to Ben Gurion), were circulated. This content was obtained unlawfully, and its distribution constitutes a criminal offense."