The mass explosions of pagers in Lebanon, which the media reported on the evening of September 17, could in fact have been initiated as a result of a cyber attack. Igor Beder, head of the information and analytical research department at T.Hunter, told Gazeta.Ru about this.
“The version about the explosion of pagers by means of a hacker attack by the Israeli special services really does exist. I imagine the following scenario: first, the attackers disabled or blocked the controller, which is responsible for the emergency shutdown of the battery in case of overheating, and then initiated a high load on the processor. The high load on the processor gives a high load on the battery, the power element overheats, and an explosion occurs,” the expert explained.
At the same time, he added that pagers have rather primitive software, so it is easier to influence it from the outside than smartphone operating systems. In addition, Bederov noted, pagers most likely use older generation lithium-polymer batteries, which are known for being less reliable than modern lithium-ion batteries.
“However, I doubt that the explosion of a pager would be enough to cause traumatic amputation of fingers and hands, much less to cause injury to others around the victim, as reported by the media. This makes one wonder whether the militants used pagers, and whether they were modified by someone in advance,” the expert added.
Also, according to Bederov, the veracity of the version about the explosion of pagers by means of a cyberattack is questioned by the fact that users did not notice the overheating of the devices. According to the expert, battery overheating is not an instantaneous process.
