Lebanon pager explosions appear to be a sophisticated cyberattack: expert
A combination of hardware and software might been used in the attack.
People gather outside the American University hospital after the arrival of several men who were wounded by exploded handheld pagers, in Beirut, Lebanon. / Photo: AP
The available information about the series of pager explosions that have left more than a thousand people injured in Lebanon indicates that it is a case of a cyberattack, says a leading security expert.
“Whoever did this has found a way to explode the batteries or a deployed explosive through external stimulus,” says Olav Lysne, a Norway-based computer scientist and author of The Huawei and Snowden Questions.
“Usually such attacks are involved in ransomware. But we have had some examples, most notably the Stuxnet attack that targeted Iranian centrifuges.”
Pagers are obsolete wireless devices that were popular in the 1980s and 1990s before the advent of cellular phones.
Simpler to use and offering more privacy, some people and organisations still prefer to rely on them for day-to-day communication needs.
“It’s old-fashioned technology that’s hard to track,” says Lysne.
The Norwegian computer scientist believes that a combination of software and hardware tools might have been used to carry out the detonations of pagers in Lebanon.
“Security people have been talking about exactly this scenario.”
Over a thousand people were wounded in pager explosions across Lebanon. Hezbollah members and Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, were also among the injured.
— TRT World (@trtworld) September 17, 2024
Sources suggest Israeli involvement through communication system hacks pic.twitter.com/sNTbQ722Bs
Reports suggest that at least eight people have been killed and more than a thousand injured in the explosions.
Batteries in electronic devices like pagers and smartphones can store an incredible amount of energy, says Lysne.
“It’s a combination of chemicals, and that’s why you see a lot of fire if you ignite a battery.”
While no one has claimed responsibility for what appears to be a coordinated attack, Hezbollah is saying many of its members have been injured.
The Lebanese group has been engaged in border clashes with Israeli forces since war broke out in Gaza in October last year.
Israeli media reports say that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is preparing to launch a broader attack on Hezbollah, which has fired missiles and rockets into Israeli territory and forced Jewish residents to flee their homes.
But Lysne says the most concerning bit about such a cyberattack is that it has exposed the vulnerability in even devices based on old tech.
“We are waiting for more information. But this can be a wake-up call for everyone. This could possibly mean that no device is safe.”
Copyright © 2024 TRT World.