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Ex- IDF and NSA analysts told Forbes the attackers likely intercepted the devices, tampered with their software and turned them into explosives that can be detonated from anywhere.Amid the Israel war on Hamas and its fighting with Hezbollah , Israel is suspected of carrying out an unprecedented act of cyber sabotage. at the same time across Lebanon on Tuesday, leading to claims Israel could have hacked the devices of Hezbollah operatives.a totally remote hack is not the most likely explanation.
A more likely scenario, the agent said, is that devices were intercepted prior to delivery and outfitted with explosives and software that would detonate them when they received a trigger message. Cybersecurity researcher and former NSA analyst Patrick Wardle, now CEO of security firm DoubleYou, said it would not have been particularly difficult to do this.. He noted that unless someone opened up the pagers, “nothing would be seen as amiss.
“It’s basically putting a bomb into a device and connecting with a software-based trigger,” Wardle said, citing 2014 research that he’d carried out with another young hacker, showing Nest Dropcams could be made to explode at a facial recognition match with easily obtained explosive material and detonator chip. “This was in 2014… so if two kids could pull this off, imagine what a real intelligence agency could do.
It’s not the first time Israel has been accused of a destructive sabotage of digital devices. The Stuxnet attacks of 2011, when Iranian uranium enrichment facilities were taken down by malware, were attributed to Israel and U.S. intelligence agencies. No official cause or explanation has been offered by either side of the war between Israel and Hezbollah. Another ex-NSA analyst, Evan Dornbush, cautioned that “before we all go throwing out our pagers,” it was important to wait on the results of further investigations that will determine the exact cause.
Hezbollah Pagers Explode Idf Nsa Hack Cyber Sabotage Stuxnet
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