Explosions occurred in Lebanon, this Tuesday (17), left at least nine people dead and around 2,800 injuredaccording to information from the local Health Ministry. The main suspicion is that pagers used by Hezbollah operatives were hacked and blown up in a coordinated attack, causing the incident, according to the Al Jazeera.
Quite popular in the 1980s and 1990s, Pagers are small communication devices that use radio signals to send and receive messages. Each device has a code that must be informed to the telephone exchange when transmitting the message.
Pager exploded
Despite having lost ground to cell phones, the device is still used. In the case of the armed group supported by Iran, its fighters began using the old device to replace smartphones as a way to avoid tracking by Israel, since they do not have a geolocation system.
According to Lebanese authorities, Hezbollah pagers were imported a few months ago and explosive charges of 10 g to 20 g were reportedly identified inside themin the middle of a fake electronic component. One of the injured reported that the device heated up moments before exploding.
Confusing story
After the pager explosions in Lebanon, one of the hypotheses being discussed is that the devices were the target of a cyber attack allegedly led by Israel to cause batteries to overheat and allow detonation.But according to the The Stackthe use of this method is unlikely, especially involving numerous devices.
For experts consulted by the publication, the possibility that the supply chain has been compromised is greater than the speculated cyberattack. In this case, the authors of the action would have accessed the pagers before sending them to users, even including explosives next to the battery of each one of them.
Accused of causing the incident, Israel has not responded to the accusations, so far. Lebanese government has urged all pager users in the country to discard their devices immediately.