On Tuesday, pagers exploded simultaneously across Lebanon and on Wednesday, walkie-talkies exploded, with local authorities saying at least 37 people had been killed and thousands wounded from the two attacks.
The Lebanese mission to the UN says the communication devices were detonated by electronic messages and a preliminary investigation by Lebanese authorities alleges “Israel’s Mossad spy agency planted a small amount of explosives inside 5,000 Taiwan-made pagers” the Reuters news agency reports*. The story also raised concerns among ordinary people about whether cyberattacks could cause mobile phone batteries to overheat, putting ordinary devices at risk.
“The explosion of pagers and other communication devices in Lebanon this week represents a new form of warfare previously unseen. While initial reports speculated about a possible cyberattack, it is now clear that the devices had explosives planted inside,” commented Lukas Stefanko, Senior Malware Researcher at ESET.
Understandably, this unexpected tactic raised concerns among ordinary people about whether cyberattacks could cause mobile phone batteries to overheat, putting ordinary devices at risk. Although it is technically possible to implant additional hardware that could track or cause an explosion without altering the firmware or affecting system integrity, such cases remain extremely rare and isolated.
A large-scale event similar to the one in Lebanon, that most likely would require infiltrating the entire supply chain for a specific brand or product, is highly improbable due to the significant resources required and lack of clear strategic benefit.
Moreover, modern mobile devices are designed with multiple safety mechanisms to prevent overheating. These include built-in protections that halt chemical reactions in the event of rapid temperature increases, and the electrolytes used in batteries are formulated to reduce flammability, minimizing the risk of fires.
“A far greater and more plausible threat to mobile phones for the general user is malware, which can compromise user privacy, data integrity, and overall device security,” concluded Stefanko.
*ESET does not bear any responsibility for the accuracy of this information.
ESET Ireland 