On November 16, Facebook reported that a group from Pakistan targeted persons associated with the former administration, military, and law enforcement in Kabul, amid the country’s government collapse. The Pakistani organization was one of four “malicious” groups disrupted by Facebook, which disabled their accounts, blocked their domains from displaying on Facebook, alerted users it suspected were targeted and shared information with other social media sites.
The gang used false profiles of young women as “romantic lures” to establish trust and deceive people into opening phishing links or downloading malicious chat applications, according to the social media firm, which recently changed its name to Meta. It also hacked genuine websites in order to trick individuals into handing up their Facebook passwords.
Mike Dvilyanski, Facebook’s head of cyber espionage investigations, stated, “It’s always difficult for us to predict as to the end goal of the threat actor. We don’t know who was compromised or what happened as a result of it.”
During the Taliban’s quick takeover of the nation last summer, major internet platforms and email providers such as Facebook, Twitter, Google, and LinkedIn stated they took efforts to shut down Afghan users’ accounts. When Facebook shut down the operation, it stated it provided material with the US State Department because it was “well-resourced and persistent.”