Hundreds of wireless pagers exploded at the same time across Lebanon on Tuesday, leading to claims Israel could have hacked the devices of Hezbollah operatives.
But ex-intelligence analysts tell Forbes a totally remote hack is not the most likely explanation. “Looking at the videos it seems like the explosion was way stronger than anything that could be potentially made by a regular [computing] chip,” said one former IDF agent, asking to remain anonymous because of their prior affiliation with Israel intelligence.
A more likely scenario, the agent said, is that devices were intercepted prior to delivery and outfitted with explosives and software that would detonate them when they received a trigger message. Cybersecurity researcher and former NSA analyst Patrick Wardle, now CEO of security firm DoubleYou, said it would not have been particularly difficult to do this.
“Given physical access to electronics, it is trivial to surreptitiously modify the device,” he told Forbes. He noted that unless someone opened up the pagers, “nothing would be seen as amiss.”
“It’s basically putting a bomb into a device and connecting with a software-based trigger,” Wardle said, citing 2014 research that he’d carried out with another young hacker, showing Nest Dropcams could be made to explode at a facial recognition match with easily obtained explosive material and detonator chip. “This was in 2014… so if two kids could pull this off, imagine what a real intelligence agency could do.”
It’s not the first time Israel has been accused of a destructive sabotage of digital devices. The Stuxnet attacks of 2011, when Iranian uranium enrichment facilities were taken down by malware, were attributed to Israel and U.S. intelligence agencies.
No official cause or explanation has been offered by either side of the war between Israel and Hezbollah. Another ex-NSA analyst, Evan Dornbush, cautioned that “before we all go throwing out our pagers,” it was important to wait on the results of further investigations that will determine the exact cause.
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