Hezbollah’s Pager explosions: Can phones be detonated remotely? Could smartphones face similar explosive cyber attacks?

A shocking incident in Lebanon has brought a rarely discussed technology into the spotlight: the pager. 

On Tuesday September 17, 2024, hundreds of pagers used by Hezbollah members and medics exploded simultaneously, killing at least nine people and injuring nearly 3,000. While the political implications are huge, the technical aspects of how this attack was carried out are equally fascinating and terrifying.

Israel dealt a major blow to Hezbollah members by launching an unprecedented cyber attack. In this attack, 20-30 year old pagers used by Hezbollah members were hacked and turned into explosives. As a result, thousands of Hezbollah members were injured or killed when these devices exploded without even realizing what was happening.

In the attack, Hezbollah's pagers were simultaneously detonated, injuring nearly 3,000 members. Many Hezbollah members were seriously harmed by the explosion of these antique technology products that they carried in different parts of their bodies.

The attack had a huge impact worldwide and no one expected such a sophisticated cyber attack. Hundreds of injured people were taken to hospitals after the incident, some lost their limbs and some lost their lives. But it left a question in minds: Can phones be detonated remotely?

After this attack, the possibility of remotely hacking and detonating technological devices came to the fore again. The question of whether it is possible to remotely control and detonate the batteries of modern devices, especially smartphones, has been frequently asked.

The problems posed major security threats due to incorrect battery placement and millimetric manufacturing errors. However, these devices were recalled and replaced with safer alternatives.

Battery explosions are not only due to manufacturing defects. Batteries that come from low-quality and unsecured production lines, called aftermarket products, can also pose a danger. Although these batteries are preferred because they are low-cost, they can have serious security vulnerabilities. Quality problems seen in aftermarket batteries can cause the battery to overheat or explode.

User-induced errors can also pose similar risks. For example, a phone left in the sun on a hot summer day may overheat and give an automatic shutdown warning. Such situations can cause permanent damage to the battery and lead to explosions.

Smartphones have much more advanced security measures than pagers. There are many layers of security on both the hardware and software side. For example, there are disable mechanisms or device shutdown functions to prevent the battery from overheating. Therefore, it is almost impossible to hack modern smartphones and explode their batteries.

However, this latest attack by Israel has shown that nothing in the world of technology is 100% secure. Even old technologies that were once thought to be secure have proven to be vulnerable.

While no one thought that pagers could be hacked and exploded, this incident changed all the balances. For this reason, the possibility that modern smart devices (such as phones, headphones, smart watches) could face a similar danger cannot be ignored. However, it is possible to say that this risk is quite low.