Pagers

2024: Explosion of pagers in Lebanon: How it is technically implemented and whether it is possible to repeat this in Russia - TA opinions

On August 17, a massive explosion of pagers occurred in Lebanon, as a result of which at least 12 people were killed, and about 2,800 residents of the country (figures from the local Ministry of Health) were injured. To answer questions about how this could be implemented from a technical point of view and how relevant this type of threat is for Russia, which is in a state of confrontation with the West, TAdviser spoke with experts.

In the first moments after a series of explosions, the priority version in the Iranian media was called a cyber attack. From a technical point of view, if a huge number of requests are sent to pagers, then it is possible to heat up the batteries to extreme states, says Oleg Ivchenkov, CEO of Setere Group information security company. Theoretically, if you gain control over the SMS gateway and begin to bombard a specific device with a huge number of messages (an analogue of a DDoS attack), the situation can repeat itself anywhere in the world, he explained.

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Sergei Kravtsov, a member of the board of directors of STC IT ROSA and Rutek, is sure that the pagers could not look around without installing "undeclared components" - explosive devices. According to him, similar threats exist when buying a smartphone.

According to The New York Times (NYT), the pagers of the Taiwanese company Gold Apollo were blown up. They were remade even before delivery to Lebanon. According to the publication, an explosive weighing 1-2 ounces (28-56 g) was placed in each device next to the battery. Switches for remote activation of explosives were also built into the pagers. The pagers were programmed to beep for several seconds before exploding, the NYT said.

Reuters in Gold Apollo denied that they released pagers. The company said the devices were manufactured by a European firm eligible to use the Gold Apollo brand. According to sources of the news agency, the pagers were brought to Lebanon in early 2024. The plan with the explosion of devices has been worked out for many months, according to the interlocutors of the publication.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Moscow views the bombing of pagers in Lebanon as an act of terrorism and hybrid war that has affected thousands of people and strongly condemns the "unprecedented attack on friendly Lebanon."

Sergey Kravtsov from STC IT ROSA notes that many devices are imported to Russia by parallel import or are immediately delivered to the buyer's address. This approach carries various risks, logistics structures know who the smartphone is delivered to, which means that various undeclared features may appear in the device of the "desired" user, including hardware bookmarks. Therefore, the state should think about using only smartphones that are produced in Russia, the interlocutor of TAdviser is sure.

According to Al Jazeera, employees of one of the hospitals in which specialists from the United States worked said that about 10 days ago all Americans threw out pagers, with the help of which they communicated with local doctors and employees of the medical institution.

And then the question arises: can any pager, even one that was not specially distributed among representatives of radical groups in the Middle East, be blown up? Western enemies of Russia would gladly arrange something similar with us if there were such opportunities - said political analyst Grigory Mironov in a conversation with TAdviser.

In his opinion, it cannot be ruled out now that phones and laptops that are supplied from the United States or other countries to the Russian Federation do not have something similar, as in blown up pagers in Lebanon. Oleg Ivchenkov from Setere Group agrees that now in Russia you cannot be 100% confident in the safety of Western devices.

That is why the vector of development of our country is aimed at import substitution. The bad thing is that in order to understand the full importance of independence from Western products, we must learn from examples of such tragedies, he added.