What Just Happened in Lebanon? Understanding Synchronized Explosions

InfosecTrain - A podcast by InfosecTrain

Categories:

The entire world is in a state of fear due to the alarmingly severe cybersecurity vulnerabilities that have claimed multiple innocent lives in Lebanon. Initially, Hezbollah's strongholds were rocked by synchronized pager blasts, and now several Walkie-Talkie explosions have followed suit. What makes this particularly shocking? Walkie-talkies and pagers, two devices we typically consider benign communication tools, triggered the blasts, exposing critical flaws and demonstrating how a simple supply chain attack can have devastating effects on human life. What Went Down? Here’s the rundown: a series of explosions hit areas known for being Hezbollah’s strongholds. According to CNN, these weren’t ordinary blasts. Each pager concealed around 3-5 grams of highly explosive material, making its battery half explosive and half real. Later, a radio signal remotely set these explosives off. These synchronized explosions suggest a highly sophisticated espionage attack. Without raising any suspicions, the supply chain intercepted, modified, and distributed these Pagers. On the other hand, the IC-V82 Japanese Walkie-Talkie devices were discontinued a decade ago, but both (Pagers and Walkie-Talkie) were bought by Hezbollah five months ago. View More: What Just Happened in Lebanon? Understanding Synchronized Explosions