Anatomy of a Sabotage: Planting Explosives in Hezbollah’s Pagers

I’m fascinated by how Hezbollah’s pagers were compromised. This is the most technically creative and innovative attack I can think of since Stuxnet in 2010. A trojan horse of cyberwarfare. 

It seems that explosives were planted in the pagers and two-way radios – it wasn’t merely an exploding battery. This means that the attacker had to gain physical access to the pagers in order to plant both the explosives and the electronic circuitry that triggered it.

Once that was accomplished, the attacker needed access to the pager network in order to send a message to all of the pagers at once, followed, seconds later, by the detonation signal.

It’s astonishing that none of these explosives appear to have been detected by any measures, including airport screening equipment. Obviously, TSA will be looking at this vector.

How Would I Do It?

Rather than intercept the pagers along the supply chain, I would look for an easier way. Specifically, I’d find a consumer electronics manufacturer who’d be willing to license to me both their brand and rights to manufacture the pagers. From there, it would be much simpler to mass manufacture and distribute the exploding pagers.