

How ‘honey trap’ hackers stole Syrian rebel war plans - dave446
http://www.thenational.ae/world/middle-east/how-honey-trap-hackers-stole-syrian-rebel-war-plans

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dmix
There is a slightly better version of this story on NYTimes:

[http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/02/world/middleeast/hackers-u...](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/02/world/middleeast/hackers-
use-old-web-lure-to-aid-assad.html)

And the original report by FireEye:

[https://www.fireeye.com/blog/threat-
research/2015/02/behind_...](https://www.fireeye.com/blog/threat-
research/2015/02/behind_the_syrianco.html)

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coldcode
The internet has become just another weapon in war, with offensive and
defensive tactics constantly improving over time in reaction to each other. If
you have cavalry and I have tanks you are going to be dissapointed.

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smtddr
_> >Then the hackers would send the target a photo of themselves loaded with
malware that penetrated their personal files and stole information._

The mainstream public is going to freak out over this line. What I assume this
means, is that they sent a malware destined URL claiming it was a photo... or
an email attachment like MyPicture.jpg.exe/vacationPhotos.zip.exe to the
target and triggered some code execution.

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Yadi
This is amazing! Sounds so much like a Hollywood movie.

Though this is most probably true, I worked at an ISP in North Iraq. The
amount of ignorant high profile Internet users causes us lots of trouble.

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PhantomGremlin
Yes, when I saw "rebels" and "plans" I immediately thought of Star Wars.

But, unlike in cinema, there are many real lives at stake.

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vaadu
"posing as female supporters". This adds a new spin on the words 'honey trap'.

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AgentIcarus
I think this is actually the original definition of honey trap.

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colechristensen
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clandestine_HUMINT_asset_recrui...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clandestine_HUMINT_asset_recruiting#Love.2C_honeypots.2C_and_recruitment)

