Israel has charged a Palestinian computer hacker from the Gaza Strip with breaking into Israeli military drone camera systems and gleaning details of civilian aircraft movements for Islamic terrorists. The Beersheba District Court said on Wednesday it had charged Majd Oweida, 23, with designing several computer programs to help the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization -- for which he had been working since 2011 -- to access Israeli networks. According to the court statement, the charges against Oweida include espionage and helping Islamic Jihad hack into and monitor broadcasts from Israeli drones flying above Gaza. It said he also hacked signals from Israeli police street cameras and collected flight information, including passenger lists, from Ben-Gurion International Airport outside Tel Aviv. The indictment revealed that Oweida, a computer and electric engineer, was given a laptop by a senior Islamic Jihad official, who also purchased other electronic equipment for him in the United States, including a frequency counter and satellite dish. The equipment was transferred to Gaza through smuggling tunnels from Egypt. After two failed attempts, Oweida was able to hack into the drone camera systems and to see the images they were capturing in real-time and in high quality on his computer screen. While watching the drone footage, he recognized that the Israeli military was collecting intelligence on a particular terror operative in the Gaza Strip. He recorded the footage and was able to figure out the precise location of the drone. Islamic Jihad used Oweida's program until 2014, when the frequency counter was no longer able to hack into Israel's drone network. Another one of Oweida's programs, which allowed Islamic Jihad officials to watch footage from police traffic cameras, helped the terrorist group monitor areas of population and security forces concentration ahead of firing rockets during wartime. Oweida was arrested a month ago while on his way to meet up with a group of young Palestinian would-be contestants for a reality television talent show. He was leading a youth group whose members aspired to appear on the "Arabs Got Talent" TV show, broadcast throughout the Arab world. The investigation into Oweida's case was carried out by the Shin Bet security agency and the police counterterrorism unit.
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Islamic Jihad activist accused of hacking IDF drone systems
Majd Oweida, 23, allegedly succeeded in hacking into IDF drone cameras above the Gaza Strip and passing images on to Islamic Jihad • He also allegedly hacked into Ben-Gurion Airport passenger lists and collected flight information.