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Pagers and walkie-talkies over cellphones – a security expert explains why Hezbollah went low-tech for communications
The synchronized explosion of pagers and walkie-talkies in Lebanon in 2024 targeted Hezbollah, demonstrating the vulnerabilities and tracking capabilities of communication devices.
Richard Forno, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Electronic pagers across Lebanon exploded simultaneously on Sept. 17, 2024, killing 12 and wounding more than 2,700. The following day, another wave of explosions in the country came from detonating walkie-talkies. The attacks appeared to target members of the militant group Hezbollah.
The pagers attack involved explosives planted in the communications devices by Israeli operatives, according to U.S. officials cited by The New York Times. Hezbollah had recently ordered a shipment of pagers, according to the report.
Secretly attacking the supply chain is not a new technique in intelligence and military operations. For example, the U.S. National Security Agency intercepted computer hardware bound for overseas customers, inserted malware or other surveillance tools and then repackaged them for delivery to certain foreign buyers, a 2010 NSA internal document showed. This differs from accessing a specific person’s device, such as when Israel’s Shin Bet secretly inserted explosives into a cellphone to remotely kill a Hamas bombmaker in 1996.
Hezbollah, a longtime adversary of Israel, had increased its use of pagers in the wake of the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. By shifting to relatively low-tech communication devices, including pagers and walkie-talkies, Hezbollah apparently sought an advantage against Israel’s well-known sophistication in tracking targets through their phones.
Cellphones: The ultimate tracker
As a former cybersecurity professional and current security researcher, I view cellular devices as the ultimate tracking tool for both government and commercial entities – in addition to users, criminals and the mobile phone provider itself. As a result, mobile phone tracking has contributed to the fight against terrorism, located missing people and helped solve crimes.
Conversely, mobile phone tracking makes it easy for anyone to record a person’s most intimate movements. This can be done for legitimate purposes such as parents tracking children’s movements, helping you find your car in a parking lot, and commercial advertising, or nefarious ends such as remotely spying on a lover suspected of cheating or tracking political activists and journalists. Even the U.S. military remains concerned with how its soldiers might be tracked by their phones.
Mobile device tracking is conducted in several ways. First, there is the network location data generated by the phone as it moves past local cell towers or Stingray devices, which law enforcement agencies use to mimic cell towers. Then there are the features built into the phone’s operating system or enabled by downloaded apps that may lead to highly detailed user tracking, which users unwittingly agree to by ignoring the software’s privacy policy or terms of service.
This collected data is sometimes sold to governments or other companies for additional data mining and user profiling. And modern smartphones also have built-in Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and GPS capabilities that can help with locating and tracking user movements around the world, both from the ground and via satellites. https://www.youtube.com/embed/CxC1KCoGbIM?wmode=transparent&start=0 Your phone contains many sensors that make it useful – and easy to track.
Mobile devices can be tracked in real time or close to it. Common technical methods include traditional radio direction-finding techniques, using intelligence satellites or drones, deploying “man in the middle” tools like Stingrays to impersonate cellular towers to intercept and isolate device traffic, or installing malware such as Pegasus, made by Israeli cyberarms company NSO to report a device’s location.
Nontechnical and slower techniques of user tracking include potentially identifying general user locations from their internet activity. This can be done from website logs or the metadata contained in content posted to social media, or contracting with data brokers to receive any collected location data from the apps that a user might install on their device.
Indeed, because of these vulnerabilities, the leader of Hezbollah earlier this year advised his members to avoid using cellular phones in their activities, noting that Israel’s “surveillance devices are in your pockets. If you are looking for the Israeli agent, look at the phone in your hands and those of your wives and children.”
Researchers have shown how these features, often intended for the user’s convenience, can be used by governments, companies and criminals to track people in their daily lives and even predict movements. Many people still aren’t aware of how much their mobile devices disclose about them.
Pagers, however, unlike mobile phones, can be harder to track depending on whether they support two-way communication.
Why go low-tech
A pager that only receives messages does not provide a signal that can facilitate tracking its owner. Therefore, Hezbollah’s use of pagers likely made it more challenging to track their operatives – thus motivating Israeli intelligence services’ purported attack on the supply chain of Hezbollah’s pagers.
Using low-tech tactics and personal couriers while avoiding the use of mobile phones and digital tools also made it difficult for the technologically superior Western intelligence agencies to locate Osama bin Laden for years after the 9/11 attacks.
In general, I believe the adversary in an asymmetric conflict using low-tech techniques, tactics and technology will almost always be able to operate successfully against a more powerful and well-funded opponent.
A well-documented demonstration of this asymmetry in action was the U.S. military’s Millennium Challenge war game in 2002. Among other things, the insurgent Red forces, led by Marine General Paul van Riper, used low-tech tactics including motorcycle couriers instead of cellphones to evade the Blue forces’ high-tech surveillance. In the initial run of the exercise, the Red team won the contest in 24 hours, forcing exercise planners to controversially reset and update the scenario to ensure a Blue team victory.
Lessons for everyone
The preference for terrorist organizations like Hezbollah and al-Qaida to avoid using smartphones is a reminder for everyone that you can be, and likely are being tracked in various ways and for various purposes.
Israel’s purported response to Hezbollah’s actions also holds a lesson for everyone. From a cybersecurity perspective, it shows that any device in your life can be tampered with by an adversary at points along the supply chain – long before you even receive it.
Richard Forno, Principal Lecturer in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
The science section of our news blog STM Daily News provides readers with captivating and up-to-date information on the latest scientific discoveries, breakthroughs, and innovations across various fields. We offer engaging and accessible content, ensuring that readers with different levels of scientific knowledge can stay informed. Whether it’s exploring advancements in medicine, astronomy, technology, or environmental sciences, our science section strives to shed light on the intriguing world of scientific exploration and its profound impact on our daily lives. From thought-provoking articles to informative interviews with experts in the field, STM Daily News Science offers a harmonious blend of factual reporting, analysis, and exploration, making it a go-to source for science enthusiasts and curious minds alike. https://stmdailynews.com/category/science/
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Amin Saikal, Australian National University
Exploding Pager
The alleged Israeli attack on members of Hezbollah via their pagers is another ominous development propelling the Middle East towards a full-scale regional war. It leaves Hezbollah with little option but to retaliate with the full support of the Iran-led “axis of resistance”.
The sophistication and impact of targeting the pagers is unprecedented. The attack resulted in at least 11 deaths, including some of Hezbollah’s fighters, and up to 3,000 people wounded.
The main aim of the attack, which US officials have reportedly said was carried out by Israel, was intended to disrupt Hezbollah’s means of communication and its command and control system in Lebanon.
At 3:30 p.m., the pagers received a message that appeared as though it was coming from Hezbollah’s leadership then beeped for several seconds before
exploding.
W\@PatrickKingsley @euanward_ @mlevenson https://t.co/8vzPIAqAXA— Ronen Bergman (@ronenbergman) September 18, 2024
Since Hezbollah has reduced the use of mobile phones by its forces because Israel can easily detect and target them, pagers have increasingly become the preferred messaging device within the group.
The attack may have also been designed to cause panic within the group and among the Lebanese public, many of whom do not support Hezbollah, given the political divisions in the country.
Since Hamas’ October 7 attacks on southern Israel, the Israeli leadership under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly said it is determined to remove the threat of Hezbollah, which has operated in solidarity with Hamas.
Hours before the pager attack, Netanyahu’s government clarified that Israel’s war goals would expand to include a return of the tens of thousands of residents to their homes in northern Israel, which they have fled due to constant rocket fire from Hezbollah. Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, said the only way to do this was through military action.
The simultaneous pager explosions on Tuesday, then, may be a prelude to an all-out Israeli offensive against Hezbollah.
The consequences of war with Hezbollah
Hezbollah has already declared it will retaliate. What form this will take remains to be seen. The group has a massive military capability to not only to pound northern Israel with drones and missiles, but also attack other parts of the Jewish state, including heavily populated cities such as Tel Aviv.
Hezbollah showed this capability in its 2006 war with Israel. The war lasted 34 days, during which 165 Israelis were killed (121 IDF soldiers and 44 civilians) and Israel’s economy and tourist industry were markedly damaged. Hezbollah and Lebanese losses were far greater, with at least 1,100 deaths. However, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) failed to destroy or incapacitate the group.
Any successful retaliatory attack on Israel’s cities could result in serious civilian casualties, giving Israel a further pretext to pursue its long-held aim of destroying Hezbollah and punishing its main backer, the Islamic Republic of Iran.
In a wider conflict, the United States is committed to defending Israel, while Iran would support Hezbollah in whatever way necessary. If Israeli and US leaders think Iran will continue to refrain from any action that could propel it into war with Israel and the US, they are mistaken.
Hezbollah is a central piece in the regime’s national and regional security paradigm. Tehran has invested heavily in the group, along with other regional affiliates – Iraqi militias, the Yemeni Houthis and the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad, in particular. The aim of this “axis of resistance” has been to build a strong deterrent against Israel and the US.
Ever since its foundation 45 years ago, the Iranian regime has viewed Israel and its main backer, the US, as an existential threat, just as Israel has regarded Iran in the same way. For this, the regime has reoriented its foreign relations towards America’s major adversaries, especially Russia and China. Russo-Iranian military cooperation has grown so strong, in fact, that Moscow will have little hesitation in backing Iran and its affiliates in any war.
Tehran is fully cognisant of Israel’s nuclear prowess. To guard against it, Iran has developed its own nuclear program to the threshold level of developing a weapon. Iranian leaders may have also gained Russia’s assurances it would help defend Iran should Israel resort to the use of its nuclear weapons.
Meanwhile, it is important to remember that after nearly a year of demolishing Gaza and devastating its inhabitants, Israel has not been able to wipe out Hamas.
Its own actions speak to this. It has constantly forced Gazans to relocate so IDF soldiers can operate in areas they had previously declared to be cleared of fighters.
The task of defeating Hezbollah and its backers would be a far greater objective to achieve. It carries the serious risk of a war that all parties have been saying that they do not want, yet all are preparing for.
The pager attack is just the latest in a string of operations that keeps imperilling any chances of a permanent Gaza ceasefire that could stabilise the region and contribute to the causes of peace rather than war.
Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Space and Tech
Celebrating Pioneers of the Space Race: Highlights from NASA’s Hidden Figures Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony
On Wednesday, a significant moment in history was commemorated as NASA Administrator Bill Nelson delivered poignant remarks at the Hidden Figures Congressional Gold Medal ceremony in Washington. This ceremony recognized the groundbreaking contributions of the women who played crucial roles in America’s space race, particularly the extraordinary mathematicians whose work was integral to the success of the Apollo program.
Hidden Figures Congressional Gold Medal
Nelson began his address by honoring the pioneers whose efforts laid the foundation for NASA’s achievements. He acknowledged the remarkable women of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs, specifically recognizing trailblazers like Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Dr. Christine Darden. These women defied social norms and shattered barriers to help ensure that humanity took its first steps on the Moon.
The ceremony was a tribute not only to these mathematical geniuses but also to the collective efforts of the individuals and lawmakers who championed this recognition. Nelson expressed gratitude to the late Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson and current lawmakers like Senator Chris Coons, Senators Lisa Murkowski, Shelley Moore Capito, and Congressman Frank Lucas, who worked diligently to make these medals a reality. Their efforts highlighted the importance of acknowledging those whose contributions often go unnoticed but are vital to the fabric of American history.
“You see, the women we honor today made it possible for Earthlings to lift beyond the bounds of Earth, and for generations of trailblazers to follow,” Nelson stated. This sentiment reflects a profound appreciation for the legacy these women have left and the inspiration they continue to provide for current and future generations of scientists, engineers, and explorers.
Nelson also spotlighted Andrea Mosie, a NASA veteran who has dedicated nearly 50 years to the agency. As the lead processor for the Apollo sample program, Mosie oversees the Moon rocks and lunar samples collected during the Apollo missions—an astonishing 842 pounds of materials that hold untold scientific value. Her presence at the ceremony served as a reminder of how the legacy of the ‘Hidden Figures’ persists in NASA’s ongoing mission and work.
As Nelson remarked, “We did not come this far only to come this far.” His words resonate with the notion that the spirit of these pioneers lives on as NASA continues to push the boundaries of exploration. With eyes set on future missions to the Moon and beyond, including Mars, the agency dreams not just of celebrating past achievements but of building upon them and inspiring new generations to reach for the stars.
The Hidden Figures Congressional Gold Medal ceremony was a powerful reminder of the courage, intelligence, and tenacity of the women who transformed the landscape of space exploration. As NASA honors these figures, it also embraces a future where diversity and inclusion are celebrated as pivotal to innovation and progress in the cosmos.
For more information about NASA missions, visit:
The science section of our news blog STM Daily News provides readers with captivating and up-to-date information on the latest scientific discoveries, breakthroughs, and innovations across various fields. We offer engaging and accessible content, ensuring that readers with different levels of scientific knowledge can stay informed. Whether it’s exploring advancements in medicine, astronomy, technology, or environmental sciences, our science section strives to shed light on the intriguing world of scientific exploration and its profound impact on our daily lives. From thought-provoking articles to informative interviews with experts in the field, STM Daily News Science offers a harmonious blend of factual reporting, analysis, and exploration, making it a go-to source for science enthusiasts and curious minds alike. https://stmdailynews.com/category/science/
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News
What is an Atlantic Niña? How La Niña’s smaller cousin could affect hurricane season
In August 2024, both La Niña and the lesser-known Atlantic Niña seem to be developing. This rare combination may impact Atlantic hurricane season, potentially reducing risk despite global warming’s influence.
Annalisa Bracco, Georgia Institute of Technology and Zachary Handlos, Georgia Institute of Technology
The North Atlantic Ocean has been running a fever for months, with surface temperatures at or near record highs. But cooling along the equator in both the Atlantic and eastern Pacific may finally be starting to bring some relief, particularly for vulnerable coral reef ecosystems.
This cooling is related to two climate phenomena with similar names: La Niña, which forms in the tropical Pacific, and the less well-known Atlantic Niña.
Both can affect the Atlantic hurricane season. While La Niña tends to bring conditions ideal for Atlantic hurricanes, the less powerful Atlantic Niña has the potential to reduce some of the hurricane risk.
We’re ocean and atmospheric scientists who study this type of climate phenomenon. It’s rare to see both Niñas at the same time, yet in August 2024, both appeared to be developing. Let’s take a closer look at what that means.
La Niña and its cousin, Atlantic Niña
La Niña is part of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation, a well-known climate phenomenon that has widespread effects on climate and weather around the world.
During La Niña, sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific dip below normal. Easterly trade winds then strengthen, allowing more cool water to well up along the equator off South America. That cooling affects the atmosphere in ways that reverberate across the planet. Some areas become stormier and others drier during La Niña, and the wind shear that can tear apart Atlantic hurricanes tends to weaken.
La Niña and its warmer opposite, El Niño, oscillate every three to four years or so. https://www.youtube.com/embed/wVlfyhs64IY?wmode=transparent&start=0 La Niña and its opposite, El Niño, explained. NOAA.
A similar climate phenomenon, Atlantic Niña, occurs in the Atlantic Ocean but at a much smaller scale and amplitude. It typically peaks around July or August and tends to have a shorter duration than its Pacific cousin, and much more modest and local impacts. Atlantic Niñas generally have the opposite effect of Atlantic Niños, which tend to reduce rainfall over Africa’s Sahel region and increase rainfall in Brazil and the countries that surround the Gulf of Guinea, such as Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon.
While much weaker than their Pacific counterpart, Atlantic Niñas can, however, partially counteract La Niñas by weakening summer winds that help drive the upwelling that cools the eastern Pacific.
Why might both happen now?
In July and August 2024, meteorologists noted cooling that suggested an Atlantic Niña might be developing along the equator. The winds at the ocean surface had been weak through most of the summer, and sea surface temperatures there were quite warm until early June, so signs an Atlantic Niña might be emerging were a surprise.
At the same time, waters along the equator in the eastern Pacific were also cooling, with La Niña conditions expected there around October or November.
Getting a Pacific-Atlantic Niña combination is rare but not impossible. It’s like finding two different pendulums that are weakly coupled to swing in opposite directions moving together in time. The combinations of La Niña and Atlantic Niño, or El Niño and Atlantic Niña are more common.
Good news or bad for hurricane season?
An Atlantic Niña may initially suggest good news for those living in hurricane-prone areas.
Cooler than average waters off the coast of Africa can suppress the formation of African easterly waves. These are clusters of thunderstorm activity that can form into tropical disturbances and eventually tropical storms or hurricanes.
Tropical storms draw energy from the process of evaporating water associated with warm sea surface temperatures. So, cooling in the tropical Atlantic could weaken this process. That would leave less energy for thunderstorms, which would reduce the probability of a tropical cyclone forming.
However, NOAA takes all factors into account when it updates its Atlantic hurricane season outlook, released in early August, and it still anticipates an extremely active 2024 season. Tropical storm season typically peaks in early to mid-September.
https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/lcaEc/2
Two reasons are behind the busy forecast: The near record-breaking warm sea surface temperatures in much of the North Atlantic can strengthen hurricanes. And the expected development of a La Niña in the Pacific tends to weaken wind shear – the change in wind speed with height that can tear apart hurricanes. La Niña’s much stronger effects can override any impacts associated with the Atlantic Niña.
Exacerbating the problem: Global warming
The past two years have seen exceptionally high ocean temperatures in the Atlantic and around much of the world’s oceans. The two Niñas are likely to contribute some cooling relief for certain regions, but it may not last long.
In addition to these cycles, the global warming trend caused by rising greenhouse gas emissions is raising the baseline temperatures and can fuel major hurricanes.
Annalisa Bracco, Professor of Ocean and Climate Dynamics, Georgia Institute of Technology and Zachary Handlos, Atmospheric Science Educator, Georgia Institute of Technology
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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