JERUSALEM, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli authorities said the personal details of thousands of Israeli soldiers have been stolen and leaked to third parties over the past several years.
An ongoing investigation by Israel Securities Authority (ISA) revealed that the suspects were two civilian contractors and two soldiers responsible for handling recruitment system with access to personal files of new recruits of Israel Defense Forces (IDF), according to a Sunday's ISA report cited by Israeli broadcaster Hadashot news.
Between 2011 and 2014, the four suspects developed a software to fish out sensitive information from the documents, including contact details of the soldiers and their relatives, number of children in the families, designated roles in the army and their foreign passports.
The perpetrators, who targeted recruits born from 1988 to 1993, allegedly sold the information to marketing companies and other third parties.
The group carried out the scam undetected for years, but in recent years, the soldiers have been frequently complaining about receiving unsolicited marketing calls, offering various products and services at discounted rate.
Calls were made in the name of organizations such as "Center for Discharged Soldiers" or "Counseling and Guidance for Discharged Soldiers" that claim to offer assistance to soldiers.
The increasing number of complaints have prompted the Justice Department to launch the investigation.
Media reports said the police are currently questioning the suspects and their homes have been searched for evidence.
The ISA has passed confiscated computers and interrogation records of those involved to the cyber department of the State Attorney's Office.
Alon Bachar, head of the ISA's Privacy Protection Unit, said the privacy measures within the IDF were insufficient and the ISA has treated the case with "great severity" as a number of the victims were under the age of 18.
The IDF has not commented on the report.
