Hebrew no shield from hackers, phony bank app shows

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.timesofisrael.com/hebrew-wont-stop-hacking-fake-bank-app-shows/

By David Shamah
The Times of Israel
June 26, 2014

Israelis are just as vulnerable as anyone else to hacking and data theft, 
and their right-to-left language won’t shield them, experts say, after 
discovering a Hebrew version of a dangerous phony bank app

While a Hebrew interface is no guarantee of an app’s safety, said Israeli 
security expert Tal Pavel, seeing their native language is uncommon enough 
that it would probably lead Israelis to trust the app more. “It’s really a 
sophisticated form of ‘phishing,’ where hackers use a form of social 
engineering to steal data,” said Pavel.

In a phishing scam, said Pavel, an expert on Internet usage and crimes in 
the Middle East, “hackers search for a ‘weak link ,’ matching a message 
with a potential victim, using threats, rewards, fear or other 
psychological tactics to get the victim to click on a link or open a 
document that will install a virus or trojan, giving them access to data.”

In this case, he said, the legitimate-looking Hebrew app that is almost 
indistinguishable from the real thing would be enough to prompt Mizrahi 
Bank customers to download the app and allow hackers free access to their 
data.

[...]

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