The bomb in your pocket

[patric]

Apparently, the country whose software we use to hack wireless devices can do much more...



Large numbers of “wireless devices” simultaneously exploded across Lebanon on Tuesday afternoon, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry, a day after Israeli leaders warned that they were considering stepping up their military campaign against Hezbollah.

A Lebanese intelligence official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter, said that the blasts occurred after pagers belonging to Hezbollah members exploded across Lebanon.
The Israeli military declined to comment.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said in a statement that many people had arrived at Lebanese hospitals after being wounded when their “wireless devices” exploded. The ministry warned citizens to stay away from similar devices until it was clear what had caused the blasts.
The Lebanese Red Cross said in a statement that 80 ambulances were responding to “multiple bombings” in southern and eastern Lebanon, as
well as in Beirut, the capital.

Residents of Beirut’s southern suburbs, where many of the explosions took place, reported seeing smoke coming from people’s pockets followed by a blast like a firework.
 
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/09/17/world/israel-hamas-war-news

Lebanese security forces confirmed that specific types of wireless devices were targeted, with several sources alleging that an Israeli breach caused the devices to go off and subsequently explode.
https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/cyber-attack-targeting-pagers-results-in-tens-of-injuries-in

[dbacksfan 2.0]

Sounds like a good start to me. Today it's two way radios. Maybe they can sew one of those pagers into P Diddy's jock strap.

Reminds me of the AT&T commercial "Reach out and touch someone."

[patric]

Sounds like a good start to me. Today it's two way radios. Maybe they can sew one of those pagers into P Diddy's jock strap.

Reminds me of the AT&T commercial "Reach out and touch someone."

“This might well be the first and frightening glimpse of a world in which ultimately no electronic device, from our cellphones to thermostats, can ever be fully trusted.”
And while the target was Hezbollah fighters, the victims were anyone standing around, including children. Lebanese authorities say 11 people died and more than 2,700 were injured in Tuesday’s attack.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/19/us/politics/israel-hezbollah-pager-attacks.html

[dbacksfan 2.0]

I think I'm more likely to get injured or killed in a traffic accident with someone that has no license or insurance in the country illegally than I am getting blown up by an electronic device in my house.

I think it was a brilliant plan, hack their cell phones and push them into using antiquated pagers. Build the pagers with an explosive in them discretely and get them into the hands of the enemy, then pick a time to trigger them. And before you go on about battlefields and rules of war, that died after the first Gulf War. Terrorists and guerrilla warfare have made the planet a battlefield and civilians are the prize targets. How many civilians died during the drone strikes under the Obama administration? How many innocent civilians did Isis kill? Drones, computers, GPS tracking, and thinking in a completely different way of fighting is here.

The enemy soldiers today don't wear uniforms, there are no front lines, except in Israel and Ukraine, and Ukraine is a battle being fought based on military tactics of the last century.  When you use hospitals and schools as camouflage for storing weapons it's inevitable that civilians get killed.