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Hezbollah pager explosions kill several people in Lebanon

reuters.com

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Re: Hezbollah pager explosions kill several people in Lebanon

#191

Post by romseb »

sbeam wrote: post #179

If we try to do what we are best at here at HN, let’s focus the discussion on the technical aspects of it. It immediately reminded me of Stuxnet, which also from a technical perspective was quite interesting. I already wonder if this was anything that was planted in the devices perviously, or if the ones responsible had similar devices, and managed reverse engineer them and craft a payload to them, that could be sent…

After seeing some videos of faces and hands that were blown off, it's clear that the tiny batteries could not have caused explosions like this.

Re: Hezbollah pager explosions kill several people in Lebanon

#194

Post by [deleted] »

netsharc wrote: post #39

It must be a combination of hardware (put a bomb in it) and software (trigger an explosion when a particular command is received) hack. Triggering an explosion of all devices is needed because if people started hearing about exploding pagers, they'd place their own far away from anything precious to them. Geez, I thought this kind of hack is the stuff of (bad) action movies. I wonder if there's a pager that was power…

[deleted]

Re: Hezbollah pager explosions kill several people in Lebanon

#196

Post by einszwei »

From Israel's perspective, this supply chain attack was undoubtedly a clever move, but I can't help but wonder about its long-term consequences.

Although it was aimed at harming Israel's adversaries, third-party countries may now hesitate to involve Israel in their supply chains. There's also the risk that other major producers could replicate this tactic, potentially leading to further escalation in the region or beyond.

In the short term, it's a smart strategy for Israel, but they've likely opened Pandora's box in the process.

Re: Hezbollah pager explosions kill several people in Lebanon

#198

Post by wut42 »

busterarm wrote: post #142

Pager networks are 100% clear text. If you're stupid enough to be using them to coordinate operations in 2024, I feel like you kind of deserve whatever happens to you. You're telling me nobody in Hezbollah watched The Wire?

You can use cyphertext inside the plaintext. Seems to be what they are doing.

Re: Hezbollah pager explosions kill several people in Lebanon

#199

Post by minkles »

some_random wrote: post #185
sbeam wrote: post #179

If we try to do what we are best at here at HN, let’s focus the discussion on the technical aspects of it. It immediately reminded me of Stuxnet, which also from a technical perspective was quite interesting. I already wonder if this was anything that was planted in the devices perviously, or if the ones responsible had similar devices, and managed reverse engineer them and craft a payload to them, that could be sent…

We can't really do much more than speculate right now, but it seems like the most likely answer is that a shipment of pagers was intercepted and implanted with explosives. Israel has done this before to assassinate a prominent bomb maker. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahya_Ayyash#Assassination

Exactly that. There is a video of a hole blown through a table surface with one. That is not happening with any off the shelf battery technology as is currently being heavily misreported. They were modified with explosives clearly.

Of course there is paranoia being sewn now about hacking and the batteries which is likely part of the ongoing operation as it will disrupt anyone they didn't explicitly target.

Re: Hezbollah pager explosions kill several people in Lebanon

#200

Post by flyinglizard »

einszwei wrote: post #196

From Israel's perspective, this supply chain attack was undoubtedly a clever move, but I can't help but wonder about its long-term consequences. Although it was aimed at harming Israel's adversaries, third-party countries may now hesitate to involve Israel in their supply chains. There's also the risk that other major producers could replicate this tactic, potentially leading to further escalation in the region or be…

It's said those devices were Iranian made. What makes you think Israel has any overt involvement in the supply chain to begin with?
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