On September 17, around 3.30 pm Beirut time, thousands of pagers used by members of the Hezbollah, the Shia militant group, started exploding across Lebanon. The explosions killed 11 and injured 2,700. The next day, it was the turn of walkie talkies they used to blow up, killing over 20 and injuring 450 people. The mass electronic sabotage, presumed to have been orchestrated by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) along with the country’s spy agency, Mossad, represents a new chapter in electronic warfare. The pager/ walkie talkie attacks raise the spectre worldwide of the potential widespread weaponisation and targeting of personal gadgets. Though putting explosives in phones and detonating them is an old art in the secret agent’s toolbox, what makes the alleged Israeli attack unique is the dee...
