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interface news reporter | chen shenglong

interface news editor | liu haichuan

in recent daysthe explosion of communication terminal equipment has causedlebanon37 people were killed and nearly 3,000 were injured. a preliminary investigation recently released by lebanese officials found that the devices were implanted with explosives before entering the country and were detonated by sending electronic messages to them.

this preliminary conclusion is consistent with the previous analysis of many defense and electronic communications experts: israeli intelligence personnel posed as overseas suppliers and sentat any stage of manufacturing, processing, packaging or distributionmicro-bombs (such as high-energy explosives thinner than the aluminum foil of chewing gum packaging and weighing less than 3 grams) are implanted in batches (thousands) in advance, passed security checks, and distributed to important hezbollah personnel. then, special instructions disguised as ordinary messages are sent uniformly to trigger the lithium batteries to power on, thereby detonating the bombs inside.the carrier died from heavy bleeding in vital parts.

in the past, israeli intelligence agencies have installed bombs in individual mobile phones or car targets and then detonated them remotely to eliminate important enemy figures.for example, in 1996,hamas bomb engineer yahya ayyash was assassinated by israeli intelligence by detonating a mobile phone.

the public's trust in everyday high-tech electronic products may also be affected: will they cost me and my children's lives one day?

jiemian news learned from many senior industry insiders that legally produced electronic consumer products have multiple safety protections in the manufacturing, sales and use stages, and even if a battery explosion occurs, the degree of damage is often low. ordinary consumers do not need to worry about being detonated in batches, because from the perspective of my country's laws and regulations, the integrity of the supply chain, industry standards, and the attention paid by manufacturers, the possibility of such an attack is extremely low.

the first problem was the soil.economic development has come to a standstill and the government has been in a "caretaker" state for more than two years.this has left the social safety net full of holes.the constant conflict with israel has consumed a huge amount of money and manpower, and has made anti-infiltration and detection work ineffective.

in addition, my country's electronics industry has a complete production chain ecosystem, and almost all products can be designed, manufactured and assembled locally to ensure that they will not be tampered with before delivery. government regulators will even strictly review manufacturers' product design drawings.apple, huawei, tencent and other major companies also have data centers in their home countries, including malicious programs, detonation instructions and other criminal activities.the software will be intercepted or traced to the source in a timely manner.

at the manufacturer level,mainstream brands are more willing to invest in safety, and willconduct additional safety testinghowever, an interesting example is that after weighing its own business interests, apple recently withdrew its lawsuit against israeli software maker nso.in 2021, apple accused nso of using its notorious "pegasus" spyware to attack multiple iphone users, including journalists, in order to intercept sensitive information such as user calls and messages.

industry insiders pointed out that under the new circumstances, issues of origin and supply chain are extremely critical.the attacks on lebanon could accelerate the anti-globalization trend of “nationalization” and “localization,” whether it’s the development and maintenance of hardware like smartphones and drones or applications like social media.

shen shiwen predicts that if similar incidents in lebanon continue to occur abroad, it will not only affect the consumption decisions of ordinary people, but manufacturers will also introduce corresponding measures. if a situation occurs that is beyond the control of the manufacturer, they may tighten their supply chain security protocols.

zhang yi, chief analyst at third-party research firm imedia research, told jiemian news that after snowden's "prism gate" exposed the us government's surveillance plan many years ago, it did refresh consumers' new security perceptions of technology products. "national security should be given enough attention, such as not storing sensitive information on personal electronic terminals, and not leaking information such as military activities or locations on personal social media to avoid being exploited by people with ulterior motives," zhang yi said.

as for the risk of mobile phones exploding in full compliance with regulations, independent telecom analyst fu liang told jiemian news that electronic products are not that threatening. nowadays, mobile phones are usually designed with a focus on heat dissipation. it is not easy to use software to make the lithium battery of a mobile phone overheat and explode. there are occasional cases of mobile phones exploding, but the harm is generally not serious, and even fewer cases of death.

zhang yi further elaborated on this, saying that in my country, electronic products are required to obtain 3c certification, and lithium batteries have a threshold that meets safety requirements to prevent consumers from being harmed by improper use. given that the entire production and packaging process of electronic products in my country is controlled at every level, the possibility of electronic products purchased by ordinary consumers being implanted with high-risk banned explosives in batches is almost zero.

ordinary consumers should be more concerned about personal privacy data and account security, because this is related to their most direct interests. fu liang said that compared with bomb implantation, the greater harm of mobile phones is trojan implantation, whether it is used for positioning or stealing information, it is easy to do and difficult to detect.