Israeli cyber-operators have reportedly unearthed ISIS' plans of developing a laptop computer bomb to blow up a commercial aircraft to the US. The extremist group is said to have been using encryption-protected and constantly evolving cyber operations to go undetected by Israeli government spies for a long time.
Eventually, the Israeli spies managed to hack through the network of the Syria-based cell of bombmakers that resulted in the March 21 ban on carrying laptops and other gadgets that are bigger than the cellphones. The ban was exclusively imposed on all direct US flights originating from select airports in Turkey, Middle East and North Africa, according to the New York Times.
Following the US laptop ban, Britain has also imposed a similar restriction for flights originating from six countries.
Earlier, the US department of transportation and the federal aviation administration had issued a stringent ban on carrying Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 aboard the planes hovering over the country's airspace. Carrying or using the Note 7 on any flight in the US is deemed a criminal offence under the laws for illegal transport of hazardous materials.
The Israeli cyber-penetration "was how the United States learned that the terrorist group was working to make explosives that fooled airport X-ray machines and other screening by looking exactly like batteries for laptop computers," the Times reported.
The detonation method for the bombs was quickly unravelled, thanks to the timely intelligence gathered by Israeli spies.
Israeli government officials were reportedly irked after US President Donald Trump publicised the intelligence details at the White House meeting with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov on May 10.
