Illustrative photo of a smartphone.
Anti-Semitic hacker tries to send over 4m 'death to Jews' texts
The hacker, who used data stolen from a global telecommunications company in 2013, attempted to send 4 million of the messages two years later, according to a report by the Guardian newspaper.
In April 2015 a hacker tried sending over 4 million text messages saying "Our motto forever Death to America, Death to the Jews," according to a report in the UK's Guardian newspaper.
The hacker used data that had been stolen in 2013 from SMSGlobal, a telecommunications company that provides major brands – including phone, transport and technology companies – with messaging services. According to the Guardian, SMSGlobal has over one million customers.
Illustrative photo of a man using a smartphone. (Photo: Shutterstock)
While SMSGlobal managed to block most of the messages, around 5,000 still reached phones in the United Arab Emirates.
Yet another hack of SMSGlobal's database was attempted in September 2015, when hackers tried to send a mass text message saying: "Mismanagement by Saudi officials was the reason for the death of the hajjaj in Mina," presumably in reference to September's stampede at the hajj that killed over 2,000 pilgrims.
In response to the incidents, SMSGlobal said that it had tightened its security and stressed that at no time "has the message history, database or any personal information of any SMSGlobal customer been compromised by a breach of the SMSGlobal systems."
Nonetheless, the company admitted that a risk of "brute force attacks" remains and that it is adding security measures to try and prevent them.
As part of the investigation, according to the Guardian, it was revealed that SMSGlobal works "proactively" with intelligence agencies in the United Arab Emirates and has also previously assisted the FBI and Australian federal police.
In spite of the privacy laws governing SMSGlobal's practices in the countries in which it operates, the company has nevertheless said that it occasionally receives requests to "assist domestic and international security agencies with their investigations into unauthorized SMS campaigns on a confidential basis.
"This assistance involves no disclosure of any customer data or personal information which is protected at all times unless compelled to do so by law," the company added.
