Attack of the pagers

Stuff reports:

Hundreds of explosions that erupted from handheld pagers across Beirut may have been the result of booby-trapped devices rather than a cyber attack, security experts have suggested.

The pagers, which were being used by Hezbollah officials to communicate privately, detonated across the Lebanese capital on Tuesday, reportedly injuring thousands of people, including civilians and militant fighters.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for the explosions, but the dramatic attack triggered an obvious question: how did they do it?

One theory is the explosions were the result of an unprecedented cyber attack, with hackers somehow overheating and destroying the pagers remotely.

Another is supply chain sabotage, with Israel able to booby trap hundreds of pagers destined for use by Hezbollah.

A cyber attack could have involved manipulating these devices and causing their batteries to overheat. Lithium batteries will smoke or melt if overheated and can catch on fire, with past fires reported on gadgets including smartphones, e-bikes or scooters.

This is fascinating. Instinctively I don’t think it is overheating as a fire is not the same as an explosion. Not sure we’ll ever find out, but I will predict pager use is about to plummet!

Hezbollah is recognised as a terrorist entity by over 60 countries including the EU, UK, US, the Arab League, and the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Interesting speculation here.