Hezbollah pager explosions kill several people in Lebanon • Hacker News Board

Re: Hezbollah pager explosions kill several people in Lebanon

#511

Post by rany_ » Tue, Sep 17, 2024, 6:38 PM UTC

apienx wrote: post #260

"These devices don't appear to be designed to be lethal.[..] They are, for the most part, low charge so not packing enough to actually kill somebody.[..] Let's not forget that this comes on the same day that Israel has extended its war aims to including expelling Hezbollah basically from the border." -- BBC's Security Correspondent Frank Gardner https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNEb-dY3tRY

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to link to a gory video, but there is commonly circulating video of a pager detonating in a grocery store. There are a few people around the man but only the man appears to be impacted, all bystanders seem OK.

Media is reporting that most casualties are caused by the pager detonating while driving. Obviously because it would impact other drivers that happen to be around the now incapacitated driver.

Re: Hezbollah pager explosions kill several people in Lebanon

#512

Post by jazzyjackson » Tue, Sep 17, 2024, 6:38 PM UTC

delichon wrote: post #473

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…

Warning, under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations in the US civil fines of up to $500k per violation apply to software exports classified as related to munitions or military applications. You may want to consult an attorney before sharing such algorithms on a public forum.

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Re: Hezbollah pager explosions kill several people in Lebanon

#513

Post by SuperManifolds » Tue, Sep 17, 2024, 6:39 PM UTC

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Re: Hezbollah pager explosions kill several people in Lebanon

#514

Post by mrvenkman » Tue, Sep 17, 2024, 6:40 PM UTC

Nothing in that particular report says anything about the pagers exploding individually. It may of been a box, labelled as containing pagers, delivered to a group of people and detonated in one location.

Re: Hezbollah pager explosions kill several people in Lebanon

#515

Post by rendang » Tue, Sep 17, 2024, 6:41 PM UTC

fhub wrote: post #317

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…

Shaped charge hidden in the battery casing. Sounds like batteries heated up which is consistent with one method that shaped charges could be detonated. No extra wires needed going into the battery (better concealment).

Wouldn't a shaped charge be pointed in a specific direction, and hence could miss depending on the device's position in target's pocket?

Re: Hezbollah pager explosions kill several people in Lebanon

#516

Post by yieldcrv » Tue, Sep 17, 2024, 6:42 PM UTC

mrvenkman wrote: post #514

Nothing in that particular report says anything about the pagers exploding individually. It may of been a box, labelled as containing pagers, delivered to a group of people and detonated in one location.

There are videos on twitter and NY Times article explains more

Pagers people had on their pants exploded

Re: Hezbollah pager explosions kill several people in Lebanon

#517

Post by Apocryphon » Tue, Sep 17, 2024, 6:42 PM UTC

Amazingly enough, the concept of hacking personal communications devices to explode was explored recently in the "phone strike" scene in Jackpot!, an Amazon MGM Studios movie released a month ago.

https://x.com/obdmpod/status/1836087414290284588

Re: Hezbollah pager explosions kill several people in Lebanon

#518

Post by misiti3780 » Tue, Sep 17, 2024, 6:42 PM UTC

here is how they did it (supposedly):

https://x.com/Osint613/status/1836111109742354507

Re: Hezbollah pager explosions kill several people in Lebanon

#519

Post by FrameworkFred » Tue, Sep 17, 2024, 6:42 PM UTC

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #441

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…

I suspect supply-chain attack (probably started some time ago), combined with a pager signal software hack. I really hope that they didn't figure out a way to make unmodified kit explode, because it would only be a matter of time, before our devices were blowing up everywhere, as folks do it for the lulz.

I agree on both points and it's worth noting the cell phone in everyone's pocket has a lot more battery in it than a pager does.

IF this was truly done to unmodified pagers, then we ALL probably need to reconsider how we use and carry our phones and what the mAh rating on our batteries implies in the context of a similar attack.

Re: Hezbollah pager explosions kill several people in Lebanon

#520

Post by Hermandw » Tue, Sep 17, 2024, 6:43 PM UTC

Amir Tsarfati on Telegram: The updated numbers:

4000 wounded of which 400 in critical conditions

Al Jazeera from a Lebanese security source:

The pagers were brought to Lebanon 5 months ago. They were boobytrapped in advance. Each device contained an explosive weighing no more than 20 grams.