Haaretz: Dangerous data leak reveals identities and addresses of thousands of gun owners in Israel

The Israeli Haaretz newspaper revealed that hackers leaked large quantities of sensitive documents belonging to the Israeli police and national security, including detailed information about security guards and weapons rooms in public institutions.

Haaretz said that the hackers who carried out the hacking and published the sensitive data are Iranians, pointing out that among the leaked data is information about thousands of Israelis carrying weapons, including their identities and addresses, which may expose them to danger as this data allows criminal or nationalist entities to easily track them.

The Israeli newspaper reported that in early February, Iranian hackers leaked tens of thousands of documents issued by the police, the Ministry of National Security, and security companies, including extensive personal information about armed security guards, the location of weapons rooms in public institutions, and more.

Hours after the leak was published, the police categorically denied that information had been leaked from their devices, saying, “After a comprehensive investigation we conducted, no external party was able to access the police’s information systems, and there is no indication that there has been a breach or leak of information from the police systems”.

While it remains unclear how and from where the sensitive information was leaked, an examination of it suggests that it relates to more than 100,000 files from, among other things, the police’s Security and Licensing Division, the Department of Homeland Security’s Firearms Licensing Division, and various security companies.

At the request of Haaretz, the US company Data Breach examined the leaked information.

The company specializes in discovering leaks and helping those affected remove their information from the network.

According to an American cybersecurity firm that analyzed the leak, more than 10,000 Israelis are included in the exposed data, putting anyone who keeps a weapon in their home at greater risk.

The company also confirmed that the leaked documents are very recent, as most of them date back to the past two years, while they include hundreds of documents issued during the current year.

On the other hand, cybersecurity experts explained to the newspaper that they have not yet been able to determine the source of the leak, and whether it was the result of a hack into government systems or a data leak from a private party, such as a security company.

It’s also not possible to determine whether the breach occurred on internal servers, or through a comprehensive attack by an employee of one of those institutions.

In the documents dealing with obtaining and renewing a firearms license, we can find identifying details about the firearm owner, his address, his photo, his military and medical background, the type of firearm, the number of bullets in his possession, and whether the firearm is stored in his home.

The documents also include police identification cards for regular officers who possess weapons, and evaluation and recommendation documents for security personnel who have been released.

The leaked files contain a wealth of personal information about armed security guards, their training and weapons licenses, numerous internal documents from security and protection companies, and permits to conduct refresher courses in shooting on behalf of a variety of licensed ranges.

Haaretz reported that it contacted ten Israelis whose names appeared in the leaked database, and they confirmed that the details in the files were correct and that they had issued or renewed weapons licenses during the past two years.

According to the same source, the disturbing thing is that since December 2024, the hackers have revealed that they possess sensitive information, but the Israeli authorities have apparently been unable to stop the leak, as the files examined by Haaretz contain hundreds of documents produced in 2025, some dating back three weeks.

The Handala hacker group initially said it had breached DHS systems, posted several screenshots of gun licenses, and threatened to release 4 terabytes of information.

In February 2025, it released a much smaller amount of about 40 GB of files.

Since the beginning of the war in Gaza, this group and similar groups have leaked a large amount of information obtained from private companies, government offices and security agencies, in addition to private documents and photos of senior security officials.

Last year, a large amount of information obtained from hacks of the Department of Justice, the Department of Defense, the National Insurance Institute, and others was published online.

Haaretz also reported that other hacker groups have created a website dedicated to publishing leaks from sensitive databases in Israel, where thousands of documents have already been published.