I imagine terrorists everywhere tossing cell phones and pagers into the toilet.
I imagine terrorists everywhere tossing cell phones and pagers into the toilet.
The article suggest that the devices were tampered with in the supply chain. I wonder if someone figured out how to overload the batteries instead. Doubt we'll ever find out.
TIL pagers are still a thing outside of the medical world.
Stampie said:The article suggest that the devices were tampered with in the supply chain. I wonder if someone figured out how to overload the batteries instead. Doubt we'll ever find out.
I'm thinking it had to be hardware tampering to add an explosive charge into the pager, it's hard to kill someone with an ordinary lithium-based battery of that size. A full short-circuit on a li-po pouch cell might be the most destructive possibility, and that would produce something like a cheap e-cig explosion.
I'm also curious about how pagers would help prevent communications interception, pagers communicate using caller ID or SMS which are plaintext transmissions...
It's definitely a supply chain attack.
Pagers were pretty heavily utilized as IED triggers in Iraq and Afghanistan in the early days, at least until Dukes were widely deployed.
You see organizations like ISIL and Hezbollah running them still because they only triangulate rather than locate, have no microphones, and modern pagers utilize encryption because of regulations like HIPPA.
I saw a story about this earlier and was wondering how they attacked the pagers.
Setting aside the moral implications of detonating thousands(?) of explosives in public, seemingly indiscriminantly... this is an impressive feat. We are truly living in the dystopia that science fiction promised.
GameboyRMH said:Stampie said:The article suggest that the devices were tampered with in the supply chain. I wonder if someone figured out how to overload the batteries instead. Doubt we'll ever find out.
I'm thinking it had to be hardware tampering to add an explosive charge into the pager, it's hard to kill someone with an ordinary lithium-based battery of that size. A full short-circuit on a li-po pouch cell might be the most destructive possibility, and that would produce something like a cheap e-cig explosion.
I'm also curious about how pagers would help prevent communications interception, pagers communicate using caller ID or SMS which are plaintext transmissions...
It has to be something like this, unless these are some really big batteries, even cell phones when they pop burn but don;t kill.
Pagers are used as triggers and don't triangulate so yes they use them heavily. I know there was an effort to bulk trigger pagers and phone ahead of security checks at one point discussed at a conference.
OK someone figured out how to get rigged pagers into the supply chain in Lebanon.
What next?
Identify the ones in the hands of Hezbollah people. (Signal Intelligence could have collected this by knowing a few numbers and tracking recipients, identifying the leader's pager numbers, recording their mailing list)
Blow up only those on that refined mailing list. You don't need to know where they are, only their pager numbers
If true there could be booby trapped pages out there whose explosive has not been activated and could be disassembled to prove it.
Hezbollah is probably already attempting this.
The0retical said:....You see organizations like ISIL and Hezbollah running them still because they only triangulate rather than locate, have no microphones, and modern pagers utilize encryption because of regulations like HIPPA.
From the article:
....Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah had called on his fighters a few months ago to stop using smartphones because Israel has the technology to infiltrate those devices, Khodr said.
“So now they’ve resorted to this different communications system using pagers, and it seems they have been penetrated,” she said.
One thing to remember here is Al-Jazeera has a very heavy anti-Isreali slant. Not saying anything they state is untrue, just something to keep in mind. I also find quotes like this entertaining (in a sad way):
“We hold the Israeli enemy fully responsible for this criminal aggression,” Hezbollah said in a statement, adding that Israel “will certainly receive its just punishment for this sinful aggression”.
...they stated, after launching thousands of missiles into Israel, most of which are indiscriminately targeted at civilian areas without any direct provocation from Israel.
Kind of reminds me of the scene in the movie The Wrath of Khan after being almost fully defeated after trying to kill the main characters in an act of revenge for previous (unintended) sins. He finds one of his compatriots dead, and declares "I will avenge thee!!!"...
...sigh...
....it... just... never... ends...
jharry3 said:If true there could be booby trapped pages out there whose explosive has not been activated and could be disassembled to prove it.
I highly doubt it.
Both sides of this have shown they don't give a E36 M3 about collateral damage. I would bet they blew up all of them.
This reminds me of the Stuxnet "virus" story.
WilD said:Setting aside the moral implications of detonating thousands(?) of explosives in public, seemingly indiscriminantly... this is an impressive feat. We are truly living in the dystopia that science fiction promised.
There is a photo of a victim on a scooter. It was a very neat and tidy way to dispatch him with no collateral damage.
Video suggests something other than purely battery explosions. The word I'm getting is the batteries were likely encased in PETN, perhaps ~20g or so, and the batteries were sent into thermal overload as a detonator.
In reply to 02Pilot :
I read through, before posting, to see who believed the hype, and would have posted this, now. But you nailed it. It's amazing what some folks would believe, and show would take it to politics... and who the mgmt. here would allow to! No surprises on any of those.
Wait... I forgot there is no bias on here. 
Anyway, yes a "free" pager or the like, is never actually free. Always comes with strings attached. Wouldn't have expected the string to be det cord, but... seemed pretty effective, from a cold hearted bastard point of view.
In before the lock after the bad punctuation post.
Were they Zorg pagers?
Looks like these were manufactured by BAC Consulting, which appears to be a shell company set up in Hungary. It licensed the Gold Apollo name from a Taiwanese pager manufacturer, routing payments through the Middle East. This has all the hallmarks of an Israeli intel operation, and a fairly complex one at that - I suspect BAC Consulting has already disappeared, probably months before this happened.
jharry3 said:OK someone figured out how to get rigged pagers into the supply chain in Lebanon.
What next?
Identify the ones in the hands of Hezbollah people.
Alternatively, if rigged pagers could be exclusively sold and/or delivered to the target organization that is buying in bulk for internal use only, then there might be little perceived need to identify targets at the individual level.
And now it's handheld radios: Hezbollah hand-held radios detonate across Lebanon, sources say (msn.com) .
This kind of warfare is wild.
The radios were delivered at the same time as the pagers; whether there is another dummy supply chain or these were also BAC products remains to be seen.
The Israelis have found a really effective threat vector here. Aside from killing or wounding lots of Hezbollah associates, they have also crippled their communications network, probably for much longer than just the loss of these devices would cause, as the fear of a repeat will endure for years. On top of that, you can bet they have surveillance teams covering every hospital in Lebanon (and probably HUMINT assets inside as well), getting photos of every person who comes in wounded. Given the small size of the explosives, there's a high probability that anyone injured is Hezbollah connected, allowing Israel to build up their intel picture in incredible detail down to the lowest levels of the organization.
In reply to J.A. Ackley :
As I have found myself commenting in the Ukraine war thread numerous times:
"Never underestimate the creativity of people when it comes to figuring out ways to kill each other"
The Israeli's are already known for numerous instances of very creative methods. The Ukrainians seem to be on a similar path.
In reply to Mr_Asa :
I highly doubt it.
Both sides of this have shown they don't give a E36 M3 about collateral damage. I would bet they blew up all of them.
It sounds to me like a pretty complicated, time consuming, and elaborate plan for someone who doesn't give a E36 M3 about collateral damage and has plenty of other available means. I'd argue that this plan was specifically formulated to hit as many intended targets as possible while minimizing collateral damage. Explosives work very differently in the real world then they do in the movies. These weren't huge fireballs killing everyone in the room. They were mostly a loud pop, just enough to kill some that had pagers in their pockets.
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