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In Lebanon, an Ingenious Operation that Combined Cyberwar with Sabotage

(Washington Post) David Ignatius - The scene in Lebanon on Tuesday was like something out of a bizarre James Bond movie - with pagers exploding simultaneously in the pockets of hundreds of Hizbullah fighters around the country in what appeared to be an ingenious Israeli operation that combined cyberwar with sabotage. Israel didn't take credit for Tuesday's attack, but an attack of this sophistication and daring in Lebanon could not have been staged by any other nation. U.S. officials were in contact with Iran through a back channel on Tuesday to convey that the U.S. did not have any role in the attack. Israel sent an unmistakable message to the Iranian-backed militia: We own you. We can penetrate every space in which you operate. "When Hizbullah considers how to respond, they should consider that Israel may have more surprises for them. And Israel does," said one source familiar with Israeli thinking. Israel's desire to strike Hizbullah harder reflects a broad view among Israelis that the country can't afford what has become a prolonged war of attrition with the Lebanese militia. U.S. sources told me that Israeli agents likely got access to the pagers before they were distributed and inserted small amounts of very powerful explosives. Malware inserted into the pagers' operating systems likely created a cyber trigger, so that when the pagers received a signal, the explosives detonated. From a technical standpoint, it was a brilliant operation. Everyone on the military network was a target. Hizbullah has now lost its special internal communications system.
2024-09-19 00:00:00
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