Were they given loaded pagers? I don't get it.
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There are two theories.
One is that some military grade plastic explosives were loaded into shipments of pagers, given that Hezbollah were quite open about saying they were gunna use them to foil attempts at Mossad tracking their phones. But, one would expect that peeps would have a good look before using, IDK. do people even check their devices before using them?
The other theory is Edward Snowden's: that Israelis had a way of overwhelming the devices (sending lots of messages at once, or something, so that the batteries overheated.
only the explosives theory makes sense. you don't just not notice that your device is hot enough to make tea.
these were new devices that were all recently acquired for the whole group at once. whoever organized that acquisition was either ignorant or complicit. perfect opportunity to make such an attack, and pagers are the perfect delivery system.
This can be totally done on a software level. All you would have to do know is the operating system and add the bug by a software update. I'm sure you can short the batteries in a way to cause them to explode.
well, no, shorting happens at a hardware level. you literally could not. to overheat them with software would be a gradual build-up of heat. by the time it was ready to blow, it would be uncomfortable to keep in your pocket.
these pagers were definitely wired to blow at the hardware level, and not just using the battery.
Agreed.
Anyone who has ever repaired electronics (I have) would know that an internal lithium battery pack is a fairly generic silver foil wrapped package.
It would be trivial to swap out the original battery package with a hybrid explosive/ battery pack, which upon inspection would look perfectly normal.
But it would need to pass a potential xray inspection, so internal electronics would be limited.
A simple over voltage could melt a tiny fuse and cause a short circuit. Then boom.
Ever see what wire wool held to a 9V battery can do?
As far as you know.