Data stolen in 2013 was used nearly two years later in attempt to send
millions of anti-Jewish messages
A hacker managed to break into the systems of text messaging provider
SMSGlobal and accessed data of millions of users that would later be used to
send threatening text messages.
The hack originally occurred in 2013 and the information taken was used
in April 2015 in an attempt to send 4 million text messages that read “Our
motto forever Death to America, Death to the Jews.”
SMSGlobal was able to block most of the messages, but approximately
5,000 of the messages did get through to customers in the United Arab Emirates,
said the Guardian.
The company linked the 2015 text messages with the breach in 2013 but
has said that no message history, data or any other personal customer data was
taken during the hack. The perpetrator is still unknown.
According to the Guardian, SMSGlobal said it “proactively” cooperates
with UAE intelligence agencies and has assisted the FBI and the Australian
federal police.
In addition to the company’s strong presence in the UAE, it also has
offices in Britain and the US.
The company based in Australia services a number of big name clients
such as Emirates Transport, Samsung, Microsoft, IBM, Dell, the Australian
Football League and law enforcement agencies around the world.
A letter from SMSGlobal to the Dubai telecommunications company DU
following the April breach said text messages had been received with “malicious
content” arising from a number of accounts, said the Guardian.
“SMSGlobal makes note that an
attempt to send in excess of 4 million SMS messages to +971 UAE numbers was
attempted through the compromised accounts,” it said.
The letter continued to address measures taken to prevent future
breaches, but said that “there is a risk of brute force attacks continuing and
more so that other legacy account credentials may have been compromised. That
said SMSGlobal believes that by adding a number of additional security measures
we can stop this from happening and/or any SMS from being sent through these
attacks.”
Another hack occurred In September 2015 in which hackers sent a text
message that said “mismanagement by Saudi officials was the reason for the
death of the hajjaj in Mina” – believed to be a reference to nearly 2,000
pilgrims who died in a Hajj stampede in
September. The company said that it does
not know how many messages were successfully sent.
