When it comes to the security of the country, especially the inside of the devices should be checked!

Evaluating the incident in which Israel blew up Hezbollah's pagers with a signal with a cyberattack, and there are many deaths and thousands of wounded people, Cyber Security Expert Asst. Prof. Ahmet Şenol said that "Based on this incident, citizens should not worry about 'can my mobile phone be exploded?' They can continue to use it as usual.”

Stating that as a state, all kinds of devices supplied to security personnel, including communication devices, should be controlled very strictly, Cyber Security Specialist Dr. Ahmet Şenol expressed that "We know that mobile phones are used as a means of communication in some operations. Extreme vigilance must be exercised, and necessary controls must be carried out at every stage of the supply chain. This incident has revealed the importance of checking the inside of the devices, especially when it comes to the security of the country."

 

Üsküdar University Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences Faculty Member, Head of Cyber Security Master's Program Asst. Prof. Ahmet Senol commented on the incident in which Israel blew up Hezbollah's pagers with a signal with a cyberattack, resulting in many dead and thousands of wounded.

Pagers do text communication without camera, microphone and voice input!

Asst. Prof. Ahmet Şenol explained that these devices are pagers as far as it is learned, and that these devices, also known as Page, are actually mobile phones and technology used in the 1980s before GSM. Şenol also stated that "Its main feature is text communication; however, it does not have a camera, or there is no microphone and voice input. Pagers continue to be used by some healthcare personnel today. The reason for this is that its battery lasts for a very long time, transmits the message very quickly and is not affected by the density of GSM lines. Pagers communicate via radio waves with stations with a coverage area of 8 to 16 kilometers in cities and 8 to 80 kilometers in the field. It communicates in the high frequency band (VHF, UHF)."

Mobile phones were banned, and pagers were introduced...

"A few months ago, it became known that Hezbollah completely banned mobile phones and ordered the introduction of pagers. In this, it was understood that he wanted to take precautions against the possibility that Israel could remotely listen to mobile phones and interfere with them," Dr. Şenol said, and continued his remarks as follows:

"In Cyber Security, there is a concept known as 'attack surface'. The more complex the device is, the more software is installed on it and the larger the attack surface. In this respect, pagers are devices with a low attack surface.

However, if there is a vulnerability in the embedded software of the device, if the company that produces the pager has left a backdoor for itself to remotely install or update the devices, Israel or Mossad can use this backdoor to change the embedded software of the device and explode its battery, but even in this case, there are not many examples of the device's battery being exploded by sending a remote software command. The battery burns or explosions we see on the Internet usually occur when they physically come into contact with the device or battery, creating a short circuit."

An incident that went beyond the battery explosion...

Noting that the biggest example of physical damage with remote software is the activation of the malware on the USB sticks left in Iran's nuclear facility as a result of plugging it into the computers in the facility, Asst. Prof. Ahmet Şenol stated that "The incident known as Stuxnet is the event where the computers that manage the system send commands to the centrifuges, causing overheating and explosion. However, in the case of Stuxnet, there is a computer that controls the heat system, like centrifuges in a nuclear reactor. In a normal pager, the battery burns the most, which causes some irritation to the skin. The explosions in the two exemplary videos in this case do not resemble a battery explosion and combustion. There are people whose fingers have been severed, their lungs, stomachs and faces have been torn apart. There is a strong belief that it was an incident that went beyond the battery explosion.”

Somewhere in the supply chain, the Mossad rigged the devices...

Asst. Prof. Ahmet Şenol gave the following information:

"The current conventional wisdom is that the explosions were not battery explosions, but plastic explosives with a quantity ranging from 5 grams to 15 grams. There are rumors that pagers are made in China. Such devices do not come directly to Lebanon due to the embargo. The current common view is that somewhere in the supply chain, the Mossad rigged the devices, a plastic explosive device is placed on these devices, and when a certain message consisting of alphanumeric characters is sent, the device sounds as if a message has arrived, and the explosion occurs very soon after. I agree with that."

Citizens don not have to worry about 'can my cell phone be blown up?'

Stating that the most common skin irritation has been in the known battery explosion and burns so far, and that the eardrum may be damaged if one is talking on the phone at that moment, Asst. Prof. Ahmet Şenol stated the following:

"However, based on this incident, citizens do not need to worry about 'can my mobile phone be blown up?' They can continue to use their phones as usual. As individuals, for the sake of our health, we should not put mobile phones at our bedside. Of course, the device with a camera and microphone and connected to the Internet can be listened to, and we must keep that in mind. This part is actually more relevant to important politicians, businessmen, opinion leaders, and people who have the potential to influence society.

As a state, all kinds of devices, including communication devices, especially those supplied to security personnel, must be strictly controlled. We know that in some operations, the mobile phone is used as a means of communication. Extreme vigilance must be exercised, and necessary controls must be carried out at every stage of the supply chain. This incident has revealed the importance of checking the inside of the devices, especially when it comes to the security of the country. This latest attack has entered the literature as a new type of attack. Of course, this incident also emphasizes the importance of using hardware and software that we have developed with our own resources and designed security elements, especially in terms of security."

The country's cybersecurity is a much broader issue

Emphasizing that regardless of this incident, the country's cyber security is a much broader issue, Asst. Prof. Ahmet Şenol concluded his remarks as follows: "Policies should be developed by taking into account the electricity system infrastructure, Internet backbone, communication systems, and end devices. The whole country should be taken into consideration, and individuals, institutions and companies should be given cyber security awareness."

 

Üsküdar News Agency (ÜNA)