EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

On Facebook, a determined hacker impersonated key individuals in Libyan politics, including the head of the Libyan militia, Khalifa Haftar, who opposes the current internationally recognized government.

The phony Haftar page was set up in April of this year, and had gathered 11,000 followers, while a page impersonating the militia leader Emad al-Trabilsi accumulated 139,000 followers. The fake “Libya My People” page managed to acquire over 100,000 followers.

The illegitimate profiles enabled the hackers to con more than 50,000 people into clicking on malware infected links that stole personal information and gave unauthorized access to personal devices.

Users were led to believe that the links would connect them with news or with reports from Libyan intelligence units.

Check Point Software Technologies identified the attack, and alerted Facebook, noting that “Facebook is not widely used to infect people with malware.”

Facebook has since removed the affected pages.

The exact motivations bellying the malicious activity remain a mystery, but Check Point researchers suggest that the fraudster may have intended to extract information concerning “certain individuals within the larger crowd.”

Get the full story from Bloomberg.