Israel's Cyber Strike: The Pager Explosions Incident

Israel's cyber attack involving the sudden explosion of 2500 pagers synchronously has shaked the IT world.A detailed brainstorm about how this incident may have been accomplished and the potential implications in the world of cyber security.

Weaknesses of Pager Technology

Pager is a relatively old device which makes it more vulnerable cyber attacks.However it also makes the attacks over pager devices simpler and decreases attack surface.Therefore Hezbollah has decided makin their communication through pager devices to bypass Israels heavy surveillance.

Pager Network: Acts as the media through which
signals are transmitted
RF: radio frequency
VHF: very high frequency which pagers use
Paging Request: the request is relayed to a
paging terminal, which looks up the pager's
unique identifier (capcode) and then routes
the message
Transmission: The message is encoded with
POCSAG or FLEX
POCSAG: Data is sent at speed up to 2400
bits per second
FLEX: more advanced and operates at higher
data rates

Anatomy of the Attack

1. Information Gathering: Israeli intelligence likely identified the specific frequencies used by Hezbollah’s pagers.

2. Analyse: The explosions occurred almost simultaneously which signs a highly coordinated attack.

3. Signal Dispatch and Exploitation:

   • Theory #1
     • To overload the pagers Israel would have sent powerful RF signals causing them malfunction and overheat the battery which leads to explode of ion.
       
   • Theory #2 (High Possibilty)
     • Given a source close to the militant group has claimed, asking not to be identified, told AFP that “the pagers that exploded concern a shipment recently imported by Hezbollah of 1,000 devices, which appear to have been sabotaged at source.”
     • Thus, there is a high chance that pagers used by Hezbollah had been physically compromised before and explosives have been mounted to pagers by manipulating production process.<
     • If the devices were preconfigured to react to specific signals, Israeli intelligence could have broadcasted a triggering signal, causing all devices to blast simultaneously.

Conclusion

Sudden explosions left an unforgettable mark on public psychology furthermore drew a big attention on evolving cyber security and intelligence field.