Explosions of communication devices used by Hezbollah, armed militants of Iran, killed 32 people, including two children and severely injured thousands, in Lebanon and Syria on the 17 and 18 of September 2024.
The incident took place in the vicinity of a large crowd when walkie-talkies and pagers exploded suddenly. The video of a pager detonating in a man’s pocket who was buying groceries at a store, throwing him to the ground while people around him fled in terror, has gone viral.
Israel is the obvious suspect and the tragedy is allegedly their response to the retaliation caused by the armed militants against the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
This incident has instilled fear and suspicion in the minds of smartphone users. Are your smartphones vulnerable too? Here’s what you should know.
Does Your Smartphone Have The Potential To Be Turned Into A Weapon?
A netizen who goes by the name Fahad Najam, said on X, “Now we have seen a flavour of how consumer devices can be turned into weapons of mass destruction under a cyber attack…if not blown perhaps burnt up… powerful reminder that the smartphone needs to do something about securing devices.“
Reuters, a news agency, cited the security sources in Lebanon and said that about 3 grams of explosive material was implanted in the pagers months before the explosion took place and they were compromised at the time of production itself.
According to The New York Times, a Hungarian company, established by Israel, and using a trademark licence of Gold Apollo, a Taiwanese company, produced the pagers.
Sources also reveal that the batteries of the pagers were surrounded by explosives and the devices were transported to Lebanon after Hezbollah planned on using low-tech gadgets owing to the suspicion that smartphones were being used to spy on them.
Baptiste Robert, a researcher on French security, posted a thread on X (formerly Twitter) that explained that while there are high chances of communication devices like pagers getting compromised, the probability of mobile phones is negligible.
Theoretically, it is possible to carry out modifications in smartphones and convert them into a bomb, the innovative attacks achieved with the pagers are unlikely to be reproduced in a modern-day handset.
Moreover, mobiles are made up of lithium-ion batteries that require physical damage to explode, which a software is incapable of. Fail safes are also present to prevent short circuits, and hence, explosions in these devices.
“Pagers are much older and far less powerful than smartphones. When a smartphone battery overheats, you will notice smoke and fire,” said Robert.
Experts also believe that theoretically, it is possible for terrorists to cause mobiles to overheat or malfunction, by increasing the current flowing into them.
However, the extra layers of security and safety measures embodied in handsets would make it extremely difficult to carry out a large-scale attack. Systems that are already in place, check hardware integrity and flag unverified components, if and when discovered, during quality checks.
Therefore, the explosion of advanced communications gadgets is almost impossible, unless they are modified and tampered with to include explosives.
Read More: Indian Trade Unions Refuse To Load Or Unload Israel Bound Weapons On Any Ships
Is The Possibility Of A Mobile Exploding Absolutely Null?
Although the tampering of the supply chain of smartphones has never happened, the probability of it taking place is not zero.
Amit Jaju, a senior managing director at Ankura, which is a multinational cybersecurity firm, said, “Given how diversified the global smartphone supply chain is, a motivated threat actor can tamper with the internal hardware to introduce an explosive charge.”
“The components are made at different places. Batteries take up the most space and are highly reactive. Certain chemicals and materials used in batteries share similarities with explosives,” he added.
Another executive at an electronics contract manufacturing firm, under anonymity, said, “In theory, such attacks can be carried out given that smartphones have all the ingredients to become a ticking time bomb. But in reality, it will involve highly motivated, rogue players who will have to convince multiple stakeholders in the supply chain to carry out such an attack.“
As of now, there are no mechanisms to test each and every smartphone unit for its hardware integrity. Thus, the likelihood of a smartphone explosion, just like what happened with the pagers, is minimal but not absolutely null.
Image Credits: Google Images
Sources: The Economic Times, India Today, BBC
Find the blogger: Unusha Ahmad
This post is tagged under: Israel, Palestine, Gaza, Rafah, war, genocide, Palestinians, drones, Israeli Defence Forces, Tel Aviv, Middle East, Benjamin Netanyahu, Hamas, UN, technology, Iran, Hezbollah, pagers, walkie-talkie, explosions, smartphones, mobiles
Disclaimer: We do not hold any right, or copyright over any of the images used, these have been taken from Google. In case of credits or removal, the owner may kindly mail us.
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