By PingTV News Desk
A massive “hack-and-leak” operation attributed to the Iranian-linked group Handala has turned the personal contacts of Israeli officials into a global intelligence nightmare. What began as a breach of domestic security has evolved into a “gold mine” for Tehran, exposing the private data of world leaders and tech titans, including French President Emmanuel Macron and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
The “Hub” Strategy: Targeting the Inner Circle
According to the investigation, the hackers didn’t need to breach the Pentagon or the Mossad directly. Instead, they targeted the “hubs”—the personal devices and Telegram accounts of high-ranking Israeli figures:
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Naftali Bennett: Former Prime Minister of Israel.
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Tzachi Braverman: Current Chief of Staff to PM Benjamin Netanyahu.
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Ayelet Shaked: Former Justice Minister.
By gaining access to these individuals’ contact lists, the hackers effectively obtained a “Who’s Who” of global power. Because these officials interact with the world’s most influential people, their phone books contained the unlisted numbers and private emails of figures like Sam Altman and Emmanuel Macron.
Why This is an “Intelligence Gold Mine”
For a foreign intelligence agency, a contact list is more than just numbers; it is a map of influence.
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Identification of “Quiet” Assets: The breach allowed Iran to identify security and intelligence officials who operate undercover but were saved in the “contacts” of their bosses.
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Social Engineering: Knowing who talks to whom allows hackers to craft perfect phishing attacks. An email that looks like it’s from a trusted colleague (whose private address was leaked) is almost impossible to detect.
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Diplomatic Leverage: By leaking innocuous but private videos, documents, and chats, Iran is signaling that no one in the Israeli “iron dome” of cybersecurity is actually safe.
The “Handala” Method
The group responsible, Handala (believed to be a front for Iranian state intelligence), used a tactic called “Session Hijacking.” * They didn’t necessarily “crack” the iPhones.
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Instead, they tricked the targets into clicking links that allowed the hackers to take over their Telegram Desktop sessions.
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Once inside, they synced all the data, including thousands of contact cards that were automatically generated by the app.
The Fallout: A Crisis of “Cyber Hygiene”
The scandal has sparked a fierce debate in Israel regarding the “cyber hygiene” of its leaders. Many of the leaked documents and conversations occurred on personal devices or messaging apps rather than secured government lines.
While the Prime Minister’s Office has attempted to downplay the incident as “old data,” the reality of seeing Sara Netanyahu’s private number and emergency government procedures leaked on the dark web suggests a security failure of historic proportions.
PingTV Analysis: This breach proves that in 2026, the weakest link in national security isn’t a firewall—it’s the smartphone in a politician’s pocket. When a leader’s phone is compromised, the entire world’s elite is exposed.
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