Hackers Leak David Barnea, Mossad Chief’s Personal Data

Hackers leaked personal photos, flight tickets, ID card and tax documents belonging to David Barnea, the head of the Israeli spy agency Mossad, on an anonymous Telegram channel.

In a video released on Wednesday, the “Open Hands” channel said it had obtained the documents via an intelligence operation which began against Barnea in 2014, Al-Mayadeen reported.

It also announced that the operation began by breaking into the database of the library in Hod Hasharon city, where Barnea’s private home is located, adding that more material would be released soon.

“We’ve got a small gift for the Mossad; ‘With LOVE for David’. Happy Purim,” a post on the channel read, referring to the Jewish holiday.

The video — with translations in English, Hebrew, and Arabic — showed the Mossad chief’s ID card, several of his personal photos and flight tickets, and satellite imagery of his home, as well as tax papers addressed to his wife.

The Israeli prime minister’s office claimed on behalf of the Mossad that Barnea’s phone was not hacked and the “materials in question are old".

However, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that the cellphone of Barnea’s wife had been hacked and its contents were distributed.

It was not the first time that hackers leak personal information of Israeli targets.

Hacker groups called Moses Staff and Black Shadow have conducted several operations against Israeli officials and companies.

On Monday evening, a number of Israeli websites, including those of the interior and military affairs ministries, were downed for over an hour due to a major cyberattack.

The ministries of health, justice, welfare were also targeted, as was the prime minister’s office, according to Haaretz, which cited a source who described the incident as the “largest-ever cyberattack” carried out against the Tel Aviv regime.