ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett confirmed on Wednesday that his Telegram account was hacked by the Iran-linked hacker group Handala, according to a statement from his office. However, he denied that the breach - dubbed by the hackers “Operation Octopus” - compromised his personal phone.
“Following tests we conducted, it has been determined that Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s phone was not hacked,” the statement said, adding, “Israel’s enemies will do everything to prevent me from becoming prime minister again. It won’t help them.”
The office also noted that content from Bennett’s contact list, including images and chats, had been obtained and circulated “illegally,” stressing that “distributing it constitutes a criminal offense.”
Earlier in the day, the pro-Palestinian group claimed it had hacked an iPhone 13 linked to Bennett. It published a link purportedly showing the extracted data, including contact lists of high-ranking officials, internal correspondence, official letters, and personal images.
On the landing page, the group posted a letter stating that “Operation Octopus” serves as “a warning and a lesson,” adding, “If your personal device can be compromised so effortlessly, imagine the vulnerabilities within the systems you once claimed to protect.”
Of note, the name "Operation Octopus" serves as a subtle reference to Bennett’s "Octopus Doctrine." During his tenure, the former Israeli prime minister advocated that Israel should shift its strategy toward Iran by targeting the “head of the octopus” - Tehran - rather than focusing on its “tentacles,” such as armed groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Palestinian territories.
Western and Israeli authorities have long linked Handala to the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS).
The development comes shortly after the US State Department’s Rewards for Justice program announced in early December a reward of up to $10 million for information on two Iranian nationals - Mohammad Bagher Shirinkar and Fatemeh Sedighian Kashi - reportedly affiliated with the Shahid Shushtari cyber organization.
The latter organization works closely with Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Cyber-Electronic Command (IRGC-CEC).
“Shahid Shushtari members have caused significant financial damage and disruption to U.S. businesses and government agencies through coordinated cyber operations,” the State Department said, noting that the group has targeted multiple critical infrastructure sectors, including news, shipping, travel, energy, finance, and telecommunications across the US, Europe, and the Middle East.
In November 2021, the US Treasury Department designated the Shahid Shushtari group - then known as Emennet Pasargad - and six of its employees under Executive Order 13848, which allows it to freeze assets and block financial transactions of any foreign person or entity found to have interfered with or undermined public confidence in US elections.
Bijar Zubair contributed to this piece from Erbil.
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