Handala Hacktivist Group Exposes Israeli Drone Commander in Major Data Breach On April 7, the cyber-activist collective Handala announced a significant data breach, revealing the identity and classified operations of Vered Haimovich, a retired Israeli Air Force (IAF) colonel and commander of the secretive "Squadron 166." According to the leak, Haimovich was personally appointed by Eyal Zamir, Director General of Israel’s Ministry of Defense, to oversee the unit, which serves as the central hub for planning and executing drone strikes targeting strategic locations in Iran. The breach also ties Haimovich to Elbit Systems, where he allegedly leads the development of the "Hermes" drone program, a high-priority unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) project. Handala’s statement included a cryptic reference to a past incident in Uzbekistan, accusing Haimovich of accepting €40,000 in exchange for access to Elbit’s surveillance systems an alleged espionage act that the group claims set the stage for their current disclosures. In a first-of-its-kind exposure, Handala released an image of the core Hermes drone development team, breaking years of strict secrecy surrounding the project. The group framed the leak as the opening salvo in a broader campaign to uncover hidden aspects of Israel’s military and security operations, warning that additional names and details would be published soon. The breach underscores the growing threat of hacktivist-driven intelligence leaks targeting state-backed defense programs.

Hebrew media reported in May 2021 that Iranian hackers have targeted Veritas Logistics Israel and threatened to make consumer data public. The hacking group published documents related to firms using Portnox’s services, they exposed Bezeq, Elbit, El Al, the Clalit health provider, and more companies' data. The hacking gang infects its victims' networks with ransomware, which gives them access to data or systems, threatens to release business data, and then demands Bitcoins as a ransom payment. The ransom demand from the hackers was 3 bitcoin ($170,000). The National Cyber Directorate has warned that coordinated attacks against Israel and took preventive steps to stop such incidents.