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STORY: :: A cybersecurity expert says it is 'surprising' that

Hezbollah was using pagers after detonations in Lebanon

:: New York

:: Joseph Steinberg, Author, 'Cybersecurity for Dummies'

"So, you know, it's somewhat surprising that Hezbollah would rely on pagers, knowing that Israel has a history going back decades of being able to detonate electronic devices. Ironically, there were reports in the media not that long ago that Hezbollah essentially broadcast to the world that they were downgrading from cell phones to pagers in order to prevent Israeli intelligence from tracking people using the GPS capabilities. Why they would broadcast something like that to the world, I cannot tell you."

"Electronic devices such as cell phones and pagers are typically not manufactured in Lebanon or Syria or Iran. They are getting these products, Hezbollah is getting these products, from overseas manufacturers. And it is likely that Western entities have the ability to influence the supply chain, to put it mildly."

"If this was Israel, which presumably it was, it should not be surprising that they have the capability to carry something like this out. The bigger question would be how did they manage to booby trap all of these pagers?"

Joseph Steinberg, author of "Cybersecurity for Dummies," said Israel has a history of using technology, including remotely detonated devices, against its enemies, citing a cellphone used to kill a member of Hamas in Gaza in the mid-1990s.

Lebanese Information Minister Ziad Makary condemned the late afternoon detonation of the pagers - handheld devices that Hezbollah and others in Lebanon use to send messages - as an "Israeli aggression." Hezbollah said Israel would receive "its fair punishment" for the blasts.

The Israeli military, which has been engaged in cross-border fighting with Iran-backed Hezbollah since the start of the Gaza war in October, declined to respond to questions about the detonations.

A Hezbollah official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the detonation of the pagers was the "biggest security breach" for the group in nearly a year of conflict with Israel.