Israel Triggers Pagers To Explode (Updated)

    In  the Sprawl Trilogy by William Gibson, which includes the classic cyberpunk novel, Neuromancer, corporations and governments protected computer systems from hackers using ICE (Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics). A deadly version of this (Black ICE) would fry a hacker's brain. 

    While we are not quite there yet, the Daily Mail reports that Israel figured out a way to hack the pagers used by Hezbollah for communications and cause them to explode in synchrony. As a result, hundred of pagers exploded injuring hundreds of Hezbollah fighters, officials and civilians, including at least three dead (update: the New York Post is now reporting 2,800 injured and 9 dead). Iran's ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, was also injured, the article relates. 

    Victims were seen sporting significant wounds as they lay on the ground surrounded by terrified bystanders in images shared to social media and broadcast by Lebanese and Israeli networks. 

    Yet more harrowing clips taken inside Lebanese hospitals showed how some unfortunate victims sustained massive head injuries, gaping wounds in their legs and abdomen, or had their hands blown off by the powerful explosions.

    How did Israel pull this off? Another article explains:

    One source close to Hezbollah claimed that the incident came as a direct result of an 'Israeli breach' of its communications, though this has not been confirmed and Israel has not yet commented.

    A different official said on condition of anonymity that the cause of the explosions was likely the lithium batteries that power the pagers.

    While lithium-ion batteries are commonly used in consumer electronics, they can overheat and catch on fire - even exploding violently in some cases.

    This is due to a phenomenon called thermal runaway, a chemical chain reaction which occurs when the battery experiences a rapid temperature change.

    As this chemical reaction progresses it can lead to a sudden release of energy which can cause devices to explode with intense force and heat.

    Thermal runaway is triggered when the battery is overheated, punctured or overcharged.

    There is yet to be any official confirmation on what caused the pagers to detonate simultaneously, however, Lebanese military sources have suggested that the devices were detonated as part of an Israeli attack.

    It is possible that Israeli forces or some other actor could have hacked these devices and remotely overcharged the battery, triggering a thermal runaway.

    Pagers often use unencrypted communications channels and outdated software, making them extremely easy targets for an attack.

    One-way pagers are passive receivers and so cannot be tracked, but when a message is sent it activates every pager transmitter in the area.

    By hijacking the broadcast signal, an adversary could have conceivably infected every single pager on the network simultaneously. 

    A virus could have been implanted into the Hezbollah pager network and allowed to remain dormant on the devices until it had spread widely.

    This malware may have been remotely triggered or activated on a pre-programmed timer.

    Video shows that the devices appeared to receive a message moments before the devices detonated.

    This signal could have been the trigger for the explosion or it may have been used to ensure that the fighters were holding the devices when they exploded.

    If these explosions are the product of a cyberattack then this is an exceptionally rare case of cyberwarfare causing disruption to physical infrastructure.

Yet another reason to be careful of using or carrying your cell phone or a notebook or laptop computer. If it can be done to the pagers, you know someone will want to try and do the same with other devices. In fact, anything that connects to a computer or the internet and uses any sort of software controlled recharging is vulnerable. 

Update: Besides the larger number of injured and dead noted above, the New York Post also reports that "[t]he devices that detonated were all the latest models acquired by Hezbollah in recent months and distributed to its members, with the devices suspected of being tampered with, three security sources told Reuters."

2nd Update: The New York Post reports:

    The Israeli spy agency Mossad allegedly intercepted Hezbollah’s shipment of new pagers months ago and rigged them with high explosives — resulting in the stunning attack on the Lebanese terror group Tuesday, according to a new report.

    Mossad agents reportedly placed Pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN), a highly explosive material, inside the batteries of the pagers, sources told Sky News Arabia, according to a translation from the Times of Israel.

    The devices were then detonated by an external signal that caused the batteries inside to overheat, the sources added.

Anonymous Conservative has additional information indicating that the pagers, manufactured in Taiwan by Gold Apollo Co., Ltd., were held up by Jordanian customs after the logistics company responsible for delivering them refused to deliver them to Lebanon. 

3rd  Update: The New York Post reports that Gold Apollo is denying that they manufactured the pagers, but they were made by BAC Consulting KFT based in Budapest, Hungary; each had 1 to 2 ounces of explosives; the number of wounded is now listed as over 3,000 and one of the dead is a 9 year old girl. 

4th Update: Now there are reports indicating the Israel set up shell companies to manufacture the pagers, including the BAC Consulting company. But people involved in running the companies are denying knowledge of the plot. 

    According to the New York Times, one of the Mossad shell companies was B.A.C. Consulting in Budapest, Hungary, set up to produce the devices on behalf of a Taiwanese company, Gold Apollo.

    Gold Apollo's chair, Hsu Ching-kuang, told journalists Wednesday the firm has had a licensing agreement with BAC for the past three years.

    'According to the cooperation agreement, we authorize BAC to use our brand trademark for product sales in designated regions, but the design and manufacturing of the products are solely the responsibility of BAC,' Gold Apollo said in a statement.

    At least two other shell companies, one in Sofia headed by a Norwegian businessman were created as well to mask the real identities of the people creating the pagers: Israeli intelligence officers.

    It is not known how involved in or aware of the ultimate plan were the legitimate business people running the companies, such as British-educated physicist Cristiana Bársony-Arcidiacono, who has denied any knowledge of the plot.

    B.A.C. did take on ordinary clients, for which it produced a range of ordinary pagers. But for Mossad the only client that really mattered was Hezbollah, and its pagers were far from ordinary.

    Produced separately, they contained batteries laced with the explosive PETN, according to the three intelligence officers speaking to the NYT.

I will be interested to see if there are lawsuits and/or criminal charges brought against those companies and the people running them.