A list of topics we covered in the week of September 16 to September 22 of 2024

September 20, 2024 - The FTC published a report about the ways social media and video streaming services collect and use our data

September 19, 2024 - German law enforcement agencies have managed to de-anonymize Tor users after putting surveillance on Tor servers for months.

September 18, 2024 - Scammers are creating fake Walmart virtual shopping lists that look like a contact page for customer service.

September 18, 2024 - Snapchat reserves the right to use your selfies to add a personal touch, as in your face, to its advertisements.

September 17, 2024 - Apple has released iOS 18. We discuss the new privacy and security related features like the very handy Passwords app.

 A week in security (September 16 &#8211; September 22) 

Plus: The FBI dismantles the largest-ever China-backed botnet, the DOJ charges two men with a $243 million crypto theft, Apple’s MacOS Sequoia breaks cybersecurity tools, and more.

The week was dominated by news that thousands of pagers, walkie-talkies and other devices were exploding across Lebanon on Tuesday and Wednesday in an attack targeting the militant group Hezbollah. At least 32 people were killed, including at least four children, and more than 3,200 people were injured. The covert campaign has widely been attributed to Israel, though none of the country's government agencies have commented.

In addition to the carnage, the attacks have—seemingly by design—had the effect of sowing paranoia and fear, not just among members of Hezbollah but also in the general Lebanese public. Hardware and warfare experts say that the incident is unlikely to establish a global precedent that people's most trusted communication devices and electronics, like smartphones, are rigged with explosives left and right. But it does create the potential to inspire copycats and puts defenders on notice that such attacks are possible.

Researchers say that China’s 2023 Zhujian Cup, a hacking competition with ties to the country's military, took the unusual step of requiring participants to keep the content of the exercise secret—and they may have been targeting a real victim as part of the event. Apple’s new stand-alone app Passwords that launched with iOS 18 may help solve your login problems. And a now-deleted post from billionaire Elon Musk that questioned why no one has attempted to assassinate Joe Biden and Kamala Harris renewed concerns this week that Musk is willing to inspire extremist violence and is a national security threat in the United States.

And there's more. Each week, we round up the privacy and security news we didn’t cover in depth ourselves. Click the headlines to read the full stories. And stay safe out there.

Last month, media outlets, Microsoft, and Google warned that an Iranian state-sponsored hacking group known as APT42 had targeted both the Joe Biden and Donald Trump political campaigns, and that it had successfully stolen emails from the Trump campaign that were later shared with reporters. Now the FBI has chimed in with the added revelation that the same hackers also sent those stolen Trump communications to the Democrats, too—though for now there's no sign that the Democrats solicited those emails from the Iranians or necessarily even received the Iranians' message.

Republicans were nonetheless quick to compare the news to accusations that the Trump campaign “colluded” with the Russian hackers, part of the Kremlin's GRU military intelligence agency, who breached the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton Campaign in 2016 to carry out a hack-and-leak operation. In a statement, the Trump campaign demanded that the Democrats “must come clean on whether they used the hacked material.” The Harris campaign told CNN that it has cooperated with law enforcement and that it was “not aware of any material being sent directly to the campaign,” believing the emails to be spam or phishing attempts. “We condemn in the strongest terms any effort by foreign actors to interfere in US elections, including this unwelcome and unacceptable malicious activity,” Morgan Finkelstein, the national security spokesperson for the Harris campaign, told CNN.

**FBI Dismantles the Largest-Ever Chinese State-Sponsored Botnet**

The FBI announced this week that it had taken down a network of hacked machines being secretly controlled by a Chinese state-sponsored hacking group known as Flax Typhoon. The botnet, made up of 260,000 routers and internet-of-things devices, was allegedly being run by a Chinese contractor known as the Beijing Integrity Technology Group, a rare instance of a known, publicly traded company operating essentially a massive collection of hacked devices on behalf of the Chinese state. The botnet, according to the FBI and security firm Black Lotus Labs, had been used to hack government agencies, defense contractors, telecoms, and other US and Taiwanese targets. At the time of its takedown, the botnet still encompassed 60,000 machines, making it the largest Chinese state-sponsored botnet ever, according to Black Lotus Labs.

**Two Men Charged With Stealing $243M in Cryptocurrency Using Social Engineering Scam**

On Wednesday night, two young men were arrested after they allegedly stole hundreds of millions of dollars of cryptocurrency and spent the earnings on luxury cars, watches, jewelry, and designer handbags. In an unsealed indictment, the US Department of Justice charged Malone Lam, 20, known online as “Anne Hathaway” and Jeandiel Serrano, 21, aka “VersaceGod,” with stealing $243 million in cryptocurrency and laundering the proceeds through mixing services to conceal the origin.

CoinDesk reported that the men allegedly tricked the heist’s victim, a creditor of the now-defunct trading firm Genesis, using a social engineering scam that led them to reset their Gemini two-factor authentication and transfer 4,100 bitcoin to a compromised wallet. An analysis of the transaction by blockchain investigator ZachXBT revealed that the $243 million was divided among multiple wallets and then distributed to over 15 exchanges.

**Apple MacOS Update Breaks Some Cybersecurity Tools**

On Thursday, TechCrunch reported that Apple's latest desktop operating system update, macOS 15 (Sequoia), breaks some functionality of major security tools made by CrowdStrike, SentinelOne, and Microsoft. It’s unclear what specifically in the update is causing the issues, but social media posts and internal Slack messages reviewed by the tech outlet show that the update has frustrated engineers working on macOS-focused security tools.

A CrowdStrike sales engineer informed colleagues via Slack, as seen by TechCrunch, that the company would not be able to support Sequoia on day one, despite its usual practice of quickly supporting new OS releases. While they hope for a quick patch, they will likely need to scramble to resolve the issue with an update in their own code, assuming no immediate fix is available from Apple, which has not yet commented on the issue.

**Leader of Crypto Extortion Gang Sentenced to 47 Years**

Cryptocurrency theft has become practically a common-garden form of cybercrime. But one brutal gang took that form of thievery to a new level of cruelty and violence, breaking into a series of victims' homes to threaten and extort them into handing over their crypto holdings, sometimes even resorting to kidnapping and torture. This week, that disturbing story came to a close with the sentencing of the group's ring leader, a Florida man named Remy St. Felix, to 47 years in prison. St. Felix is one of 12 members of the gang to have now been charged, convicted, and sentenced. Prior to the home invasions that St. Felix led, another member of the group named Jarod Seemungal allegedly stole millions with more traditional crypto hacking techniques. But St. Felix's more violent, offline extortion attempts netted his gang only around $150,000 in cryptocurrency before they were caught and sentenced to years behind bars. The lesson: Crime doesn't pay—or at least, not the physical kind.

Iranian Hackers Tried to Give Hacked Trump Campaign Emails to Dems

Taskhub version 3.0.3 suffers from an ignored default credential vulnerability.

**Taskhub 3.0.3 Insecure Settings**

Posted Sep 20, 2024

Authored by indoushka

Taskhub version 3.0.3 suffers from an ignored default credential vulnerability.

tags | exploit

SHA-256 | 7505071b9896db1b7f4f5cd911d9d07b06247bd94dbf46777a4481d4b83f1ddd

Download | Favorite | View

**Taskhub 3.0.3 Insecure Settings**

    =============================================================================================================================================| # Title     : Taskhub v3.0.3 Insecure Settings Vulnerability                                                                              || # Author    : indoushka                                                                                                                   || # Tested on : windows 10 Fr(Pro) / browser : Mozilla firefox 125.0.1 (64 bits)                                                            || # Vendor    : https://codecanyon.net/item/taskhub-project-management-finance-crm-tool/25685874                                            |=============================================================================================================================================poc :[+] Dorking İn Google Or Other Search Enggine.[+] Insecure Settings : appears to leave a default administrative account in place post installation.[+] use payload : user =  admin@gmail.com & pass = 12345678[+] https://www/127.0.0.1/tasks.octalfoxcom/auth/Greetings to :==================================================jericho * Larry W. Cashdollar * LiquidWorm * Hussin-X * D4NB4R |================================================================

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Taskhub 3.0.3 Insecure Settings

Google on Thursday unveiled a Password Manager PIN to let Chrome web users sync their passkeys across Windows, macOS, Linux, ChromeOS, and Android devices.
"This PIN adds an additional layer of security to ensure your passkeys are end-to-end encrypted and can't be accessed by anyone, not even Google," Chrome product manager Chirag Desai said.
The PIN is a six-digit code by default, although it's

Encryption / Digital Security

Google on Thursday unveiled a Password Manager PIN to let Chrome web users sync their passkeys across Windows, macOS, Linux, ChromeOS, and Android devices.

"This PIN adds an additional layer of security to ensure your passkeys are end-to-end encrypted and can't be accessed by anyone, not even Google," Chrome product manager Chirag Desai said.

The PIN is a six-digit code by default, although it's also possible to create a longer alpha-numeric PIN by selecting "PIN options."

This marks a change from the previous status quo where users could only save passkeys to save passkeys to Google Password Manager on Android.

While the passkeys could be used on other platforms, it was necessary to scan a QR code using the device where they were generated.

The latest change removes that step, making it a lot easier for users to sign in to online services using passkeys by simply scanning their biometrics. Google noted that support for iOS is expected to arrive soon.

This, however, requires the users to know either the Password Manager PIN or the screen lock for their Android devices before using passkeys on a new device.

"These recovery factors will allow you to securely access your saved passkeys and sync new ones across your computers and Android devices," Desai said.

The development comes as the tech giant said passkeys are being used by more than 400 million Google accounts as of May 2024. Two months later, the phishing-resistant alternative was made available to high-risk users via its Advanced Protection Program (APP).

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Chrome Users Can Now Sync Passkeys Across Devices with New Google PIN Feature

By enhancing threat detection, enabling real-time risk assessment, and providing predictive insights, AI is empowering organizations to build more robust defenses against cyber threats.

Source: imageBROKER.com GmbH & Co. KG via Alamy Stock Photo

COMMENTARY

Traditional cybersecurity measures are increasingly inadequate against sophisticated threats in the rapidly evolving digital security landscape. Artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a transformative force to revolutionize risk assessment and management in the cybersecurity domain. As organizations grapple with an increasing array of cyber threats, AI-driven approaches to risk scoring are becoming more important and essential tools in the modern security arsenal.

At the forefront of this technological revolution is the development of AI-driven risk assessment models tailored specifically to cybersecurity threats. These systems are designed to identify vulnerabilities that often elude traditional methods by offering a more comprehensive and nuanced approach to risk scoring. Leveraging machine learning algorithms and deep neural networks, these AI models can analyze vast amounts of unstructured data, uncovering complex patterns and insights that might otherwise remain hidden from human analysts. These threats can range from univariate anomalies, like a user logging in from a different IP address, to more complex multivariate risks that involve deviations in user behavior patterns and anomalies in their typical sign-on activities.

A simple one-dimensional risk assessment approach is insufficient in real-life scenarios; instead, a weighted average risk system capable of detecting and evaluating these multivariate risks is essential. Each of these threat detection methodologies can and very well be independent of each other, assessing risks on different (combinations) of variables in play.

**An AI Advantage**

An important advantage of AI in cybersecurity is its ability to process and analyze data at a scale and speed far beyond human capabilities. These advantages enable real-time threat detection and dynamic risk scoring, which allows security teams to prioritize and respond to threats incredibly efficiently. By continuously analyzing network traffic, user behavior, and external threat intelligence, AI-driven systems can update risk scores in real time, providing a constantly evolving picture of an organization's security posture.

The integration of AI into risk-scoring systems also enhances the overall security strategy of an organization. These systems are not static, but rather learn and adapt over time, becoming increasingly effective as they encounter new threat patterns and scenarios. This adaptive capability is crucial in the face of rapidly evolving cyber threats, allowing organizations to stay one step ahead of potential attackers. An example of this in action is detecting anomalies during user sign-on by analyzing physical attributes and comparing them to typical behavior patterns. This approach helps prevent unauthorized access by identifying and blocking suspicious sign-ins before the user can enter the system.

**AI Is Not a Cure-All**

It's important, however, to realize that AI is not a cure-all for every cybersecurity challenge. The most impactful strategies combine the analytical power of AI with human expertise. While AI excels at processing vast amounts of data and identifying patterns, human analysts provide critical contextual understanding and decision-making capabilities. It's crucial for AI systems to continuously learn from the input of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through a feedback loop to refine their accuracy and minimize alert fatigue; this collaboration between human and artificial intelligence creates a robust defense against a wide range of cyber threats.

The application of AI in cybersecurity extends beyond threat detection. Advanced AI models are also being used to simulate potential attack scenarios, allowing organizations to proactively identify and address vulnerabilities before they can be exploited. This predictive capability represents a significant shift from reactive to proactive security measures, potentially saving organizations millions in breach-related costs.

AI's role in cybersecurity is expected to grow exponentially as AI technology continues to advance. Future developments may include more sophisticated predictive models, enhanced automation of threat response, and even AI systems capable of autonomously patching vulnerabilities. These advancements promise to create more resilient and adaptive security infrastructures, better equipped to handle the challenges of an increasingly digital world.

The integration of AI into cybersecurity risk-scoring systems represents a significant leap forward in the field of digital security. By enhancing threat detection, enabling real-time risk assessment, and providing predictive insights, AI is empowering organizations to build more robust defenses against cyber threats. As the digital landscape continues to evolve, embracing AI-driven approaches to cybersecurity will be crucial for organizations seeking to protect their assets and maintain their competitive edge in an increasingly interconnected world.

**About the Author**

AI and Data Science Leader, Cybersecurity Expert

Venkat Gopalakrishnan is an accomplished AI and data science leader with extensive experience driving AI initiatives in high-impact industries. The holder of two patents in AI and cybersecurity, Venkat has expertise in integrating traditional AI and generative AI into complex systems, having successfully led global teams and delivered innovative AI solutions across various domains, including cybersecurity, finance, and sales.

An AI-Driven Approach to Risk-Scoring Systems in Cybersecurity

Thousands of beepers and two-way radios exploded in attacks against Hezbollah, but mainstream consumer devices like smartphones aren’t likely to be weaponized the same way.

For two days this week, Hezbollah has been rocked by a series of small explosions across Lebanon, injuring thousands and killing at least 25. But these attacks haven’t come from rockets or drones. Instead, they’ve resulted from boobytrapped electronics—including pagers, walkie-talkies, and even, reportedly, solar equipment—detonating in coordinated waves. As details come into view of the elaborate supply chain attack that compromised these devices, citizens on the ground in Lebanon and people around the world are questioning whether such attacks could target any device in your pocket.

The campaign to compromise key Hezbollah communication infrastructure with explosives was clearly elaborate and involved. The operation, which is widely believed to have been perpetrated by Israel, goes far beyond past examples of hardware supply chain attacks and may be a source of inspiration for future spycraft around the world. But sources tell WIRED that the specific scale and scope of the effort would not be easily replicated in other contexts. And, more broadly, the resources and precision involved in carrying out such an attack would be prohibitively difficult to maintain over time for key consumer devices like smartphones—which are used so widely and regularly scrutinized by researchers, product testers, and repair technicians.

“I do think there is absolutely potential to see more of this in the longer term, not targeting civilians, but generally targeting other military actors,” says Zachary Kallenborn, an adjunct nonresident fellow with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Kallenborn says militaries are increasingly relying on commercial technology—from drones to communications devices—all of which could be compromised if supply chains can be exploited by adversaries. “These systems are being sourced from all over the globe,” he says. “What that means, then, is that you also have these global supply chains supporting them.”

While full details of the attacks are still coming to light, the devices that detonated were seemingly compromised with explosives before they arrived in Hezbollah members’ hands. Alan Woodward, a cybersecurity professor at the University of Surrey, says he suspects that an attacker would plant explosives in a device during the manufacturing process, rather than intercepting gadgets after they are finished and then taking them apart to plant explosives. Reporting by the New York Times on Wednesday evening seemed to confirm this theory, indicating that Israel directly manufactured the compromised devices via shell companies. Israel has not commented on any of the attacks.

Early theories that cyberattacks caused device batteries to overheat and explode have been ruled out by cybersecurity experts. The force of the blasts seen in on-the-ground footage would not be consistent with battery fires or explosions, especially given the small size of pager and walkie-talkie batteries.

Lebanon’s political landscape and ongoing economic crisis, coupled with regional fighting between Hezbollah and Israel, created specific opportunities for sabotage. Hezbollah is isolated globally, with countries like the United States and United Kingdom classifying it as a terrorist organization while other countries, such as Russia and China, maintain relations. This impacts Hezbollah’s avenues for importing equipment and vetting suppliers.

Amid ongoing violent conflict with Israel, Hezbollah’s digital communications and activities are also under constant barrage from Israeli hackers. In fact, this constant digital assault reportedly played a role in pushing Hezbollah away from smartphone communication and toward pagers and walkie-talkies in the first place. “Your phone is their agent,” Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said in February, referring to Israel.

The commercial spyware industry has shown it is possible to fully compromise target smartphones by exploiting chains of vulnerabilities in their mobile operating systems. Developing spyware and repeatedly finding new operating system vulnerabilities as older ones are patched is a resource-intensive process, but it is still less complicated and risky than conducting a hardware supply chain attack to physically compromise devices during or shortly after manufacturing. And for an attacker, monitoring a target’s entire digital life on a smartphone or laptop is likely more valuable than the device’s potential as a bomb.

“I’d hazard a guess that the only reason we aren’t hearing about exploding laptops is that they’re collecting too much intelligence from those,” says Jake Williams, vice president of research and development at Hunter Strategy, who formerly worked for the US National Security Agency. “I think there’s also potentially an element of targeting, too. The pagers and personal radios could pretty reliably be expected to stay in the hands of Hezbollah operatives, but more general purpose electronics like laptops could not.”

There are other more practical reasons, too, that the attacks in Lebanon are unlikely to portend a global wave of exploding consumer electronics anytime soon. Unlike portable devices that were originally designed in the 20th century, the current generation of laptops and particularly smartphones are densely packed with hardware components to offer the most features and the longest battery life in the most efficient package possible.

University of Surrey’s Woodward, who regularly takes apart consumer devices, points out that within modern smartphones there is very limited space to insert anything extra, and the manufacturing process can involve robots precisely placing components on top of each other. X-rays show how tightly packed modern phones are.

“When you open up a smartphone, I think the only way to get any sort of meaningful amount of high explosive in there would be to do something like replace one of the components,” he says, such as modifying a battery to be half battery, half explosives. But “replacing a component in a smartphone would compromise its functionality,” he says, which could lead a user to investigate the malfunction.

In contrast, the model of pager linked to the explosions—a “rugged” device with 85 days of battery life—included multiple replaceable parts. Ang Cui, founder of the embedded device security firm Red Balloon Security, examined the schematics of the pager model apparently used in the attacks and told WIRED that there would be free space inside to plant explosives. The walkie-talkies that exploded, according to the manufacturer, were discontinued a decade ago. Woodward says that when opening up redesigned, current versions of older technologies, such as pagers, many internal electronic components have been “compressed” down as manufacturing methods and processor efficiency have improved.

Smartphone production lines also operate under stricter security measures, especially for high-cost devices like Apple’s iPhones and Google’s flagship Pixel phones. This is partly to guarantee production quality, but also to ensure that employees don’t leak trade secrets or prototypes. Not all low-end Android phones are manufactured with such intense oversight, but it would be more difficult to secretly take over manufacturing of a smartphone than a forgotten pager model. In countries like China, where many devices are manufactured, there is always the possibility of a domestic operation to plant backdoors, but such a scheme would need to be elaborate to skirt international scrutiny of the devices

To find exploding cell phones, you have to go back to 20th century tech. In 1996, Palestinian bombmaker Yahya Ayyash was killed when his mobile phone exploded as he answered a call. His old-style phone—which the New York Times said was ”reportedly a small, slim model that fits in a pocket”—had 50 grams of explosives planted inside it, likely by Israel’s security services. The explosion was reportedly triggered by a radio signal emitted from a plane flying above. And unlike the pager and walkie-talkie attacks this week, Ayyash’s phone was part of a highly targeted attack on him alone.

Even if this week’s exploding device campaign doesn’t have immediate implications for every smartphone in every pocket, though, it expands enormously the specter of hardware supply chain attacks.

“I think that every shady organization worldwide will now be checking their new devices—especially those ordered in bulk from the manufacturer—for explosives,” says a longtime hardware hacker and tech procurement specialist who asked to be identified as Null Pointer. “This hit so hard because it was novel and no one in that community knew to look for it. It's ingenious.”

Your Phone Won’t Be the Next Exploding Pager

The U.S. Treasury sanctions the Intellexa Consortium and key figures for distributing Predator spyware, a serious national security…

The U.S. Treasury sanctions the Intellexa Consortium and key figures for distributing Predator spyware, a serious national security threat. Intellexa, a rival to NSO Group, offers invasive Android and iOS hacking services globally.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has imposed sanctions on five individuals and one entity associated with the Intellexa Consortium. According to authorities, this group has been linked to developing and distributing spyware technology, posing substantial risks to U.S. national security.

The Intellexa Consortium, an international network of companies based in Europe, has emerged as a prominent organisation in the commercial spyware industry. Known primarily for its invasive “Predator” spyware, Intellexa Consortium has positioned itself as a rival to the NSO Group, the creators of the infamous Pegasus spyware.

As previously reported by Hackread.com, Intellexa offers hacking services targeting both Android and iOS devices, with contracts reportedly valued at up to $8 million.

“The United States will not tolerate the reckless propagation of disruptive technologies that threaten our national security and undermine the privacy and civil liberties of our citizens,” said Bradley T. Smith, Acting Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence in a press release. He emphasized that the government will hold accountable those responsible for the spread of exploitative technologies.

The sanctions reflect an ongoing effort to address the misuse of spyware by both state and non-state actors. Previous U.S. government measures have included sanctions, export controls, and visa bans targeting those involved in the commercial spyware market.

**Intellexa’s Global Reach**

Founded by Tal Jonathan Dilian, the Intellexa Consortium has a wide international footprint, with offices and research facilities spread across the European Union. The company’s flagship product, Predator spyware, can infiltrate devices through one-click and zero-click attacks, giving its operators access to sensitive data such as photos, geolocation, personal messages, and even microphone recordings.

Additionally, the spyware has been used by various state-sponsored actors to target government officials, journalists, political opponents, and policy experts.

The latest sanctions target key figures within the Intellexa network, including Felix Bitzios, Andrea Nicola Constantino Hermes Gambazzi, Merom Harpaz, Panagiota Karaoli, and Artemis Artemiou, along with the Aliada Group, a company based in the British Virgin Islands.

These individuals and entities have been accused of facilitating the development and distribution of Predator spyware, with several directly involved in supplying it to foreign governments.

**Sanctions and Legal Ramifications**

As a result of the sanctions, all U.S. assets and interests connected to the designated individuals and entities have been blocked. OFAC has prohibited U.S. persons from engaging in transactions involving the sanctioned parties.

Additionally, non-U.S. persons could face penalties for helping others evade these sanctions or otherwise violate U.S. regulations. Financial institutions and businesses engaging with the designated entities risk exposure to sanctions or enforcement actions themselves.

While initially marketed as tools for legitimate law enforcement purposes, these technologies have increasingly been misused to invade privacy and infringe upon civil liberties.

Nevertheless, with the rise of companies like Intellexa, which challenge known players such as the NSO Group, the stakes for regulating and controlling the spread of spyware are higher than ever.

1.  **Police confiscate surveillance van loaded with hacking tools**
2.  **QuaDream, Israeli iPhone hacking spyware firm, to shut down**
3.  **Amnesty Intl. accuses Indian cyber security firm of spyware attacks**

US Sanctions Intellexa Spyware Network Over Threat to National Security

In a second attack on Hezbollah members, two-way radios detonated around Lebanon on Wednesday, causing injuries and multiple deaths.

With Hezbollah and Lebanon still reeling from a coordinated wave of pager explosions on Tuesday that killed at least 12 people and injured thousands, another bombardment began on Wednesday, this time taking the form of exploding two-way radios. Footage of the explosions, which was not independently confirmed by WIRED, appears to show even larger blasts than those that emanated from the booby-trapped pagers.

Lebanon’s official news agency also reported exploding home solar systems less than two hours after the radio detonations began on Wednesday, according to the Associated Press. Details of the alleged solar equipment attacks were still developing at the time of publication.

The walkie-talkie explosions appeared to have been orchestrated the same way as the attack on Tuesday, which was likely carried out by intercepting new pagers at some point in their journey through the supply chain and modifying them to add explosive material. Hezbollah had reportedly expanded its use of pagers recently in an attempt to secure communications after the group feared that other channels had been infiltrated by Israeli intelligence. Reuters reported on Wednesday that Hezbollah purchased the walkie-talkies about five months ago as part of the same initiative that led the group to purchase the pagers.

In a statement after Wednesday’s explosions, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said more than 300 people had been injured and nine people had died, with incidents being reported in several regions of the country. The Lebanese Red Cross said more than 30 ambulances were involved in the treatment of people injured.

Though details of Wednesday’s attack are still emerging, the perpetrator of Tuesday’s exploding pager operation is widely believed to be Israel. Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, has intensified over the past year since Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel. On Tuesday, Hezbollah blamed Israel for the “criminal aggression that targeted civilians too.”

“I'm floored by the sophistication of this operation,” says Jake Williams, vice president of research and development at Hunter Strategy, who formerly worked for the US National Security Agency. “The scale of this supply chain compromise is unprecedented. It's hard to imagine what technology Hezbollah could consider ‘safe’ at this point.”

Photos and videos posted to social media on Wednesday appeared to show handheld radios, or walkie-talkies, in various states of destruction. In many of the images, the devices, which are larger and bulkier than smartphones, had one side of their casing removed. Middle East experts citing local media reports noted that cars, scooters, and even buildings appear to have been damaged by tampered devices.

“From what we are seeing, including images circulating on social media, the devices exploding are handheld radios, possibly an Icom model,” says Michael Horowitz, head of intelligence at the risk management company Le Beck International.

The second round of explosions on Wednesday indicates that whoever conducted the sabotage and attacks likely had deeply rooted access and knowledge of Hezbollah’s infrastructure and operations. “This shows an even deeper penetration that may have relied on multiple fronts and multiple vectors (different electronic devices and providers),” Horowitz says. “This is unheard of.”

Israel has not yet commented on any of the attacks, and the Israel Defense Forces did not immediately respond to WIRED’s request for comment about the second round of explosions.

The pagers that exploded on Tuesday were mostly Gold Apollo AR-924 model pagers, which the Taiwan-based company says were produced by a third-party firm, Hungary-based BAC Consulting. The New York Times reports that 1 to 2 ounces of explosive were inserted in the pagers before they were distributed to members of Hezbollah. A person listed as the CEO of BAC Consulting did not respond to WIRED’s request for comment. A Hungarian government spokesperson has claimed the company is a “trading intermediary” and does not have a “manufacturing or operational site in Hungary.”

Following the first round of explosions on Tuesday, Human Rights Watch called for an investigation, saying it was not possible to locate all the sabotaged pagers and, as a result, they could end up striking “military targets and civilians without distinction.”

“Customary international humanitarian law prohibits the use of booby traps—objects that civilians are likely to be attracted to or are associated with normal civilian daily use—precisely to avoid putting civilians at grave risk and produce the devastating scenes that continue to unfold across Lebanon today,” Lama Fakih, the group’s Middle East and North Africa director said in a statement.

US secretary of state Anthony Blinken on Wednesday denied the US had advance knowledge of Tuesday’s attack.

“The United States did not know about, nor was it involved in, these incidents,” he said at a conference in Cairo, Egypt. “We’re still gathering the information and gathering the facts.”

Walkie-Talkies Explode in New Attack on Hezbollah

The evolution of software always catches us by surprise. I remember betting against the IBM computer Deep Blue during its chess match against the grandmaster Garry Kasparov in 1997, only to be stunned when the machine claimed victory. Fast forward to today, would we have imagined just three years ago that a chatbot could write essays, handle customer support calls, and even craft commercial

Penetration Testing / Automation

The evolution of software always catches us by surprise. I remember betting against the IBM computer Deep Blue during its chess match against the grandmaster Garry Kasparov in 1997, only to be stunned when the machine claimed victory. Fast forward to today, would we have imagined just three years ago that a chatbot could write essays, handle customer support calls, and even craft commercial artwork? We continue to be amazed by what software can achieve—tasks we once thought were strictly human domains. Such is the surprise unfolding in the sphere of cybersecurity testing. Hold tight!

****Demystifying Penetration Testing****

If someone had told me 10 years ago that computer software could one day perform the work of an ethical hacker, I would have said 'No way, Jose'. Penetration testing—PT for short—is when experts mimic hackers to test a company's defenses. It's a critical practice, mandated by major regulatory bodies like PCI DSS, HIPAA, and DORA to ensure network safety. Yet, despite its critical role, PT has been conducted in much the same way for decades.

****We've Been Used to Paying the Bill****

Traditional PT doesn't come cheap, ranging from $30,000 for basic external web tests to $150,000 for complex cloud systems analyses. The process is lengthy, too often taking two to three months from the initial service request to final reporting, and only covering 5% to 10% of an organization's assets at each pass.

Now consider the new economics: for the price of a single manual pentesting exercise one can perform automated daily exercises with ten times the scope in each run throughout the year. The financial argument for automation is truly disruptive. With software the cost per test run turns from the price of a BMW M4 to the price of a pair of Air Jordan sneakers. It's that drastic.

****The Brief History of Security Validation****

While the broader cybersecurity field has seen rapid advancements, such as AI-driven endpoint security, PT has been slow to evolve. Pentera led the charge by introducing automated security testing capabilities back in 2015. That was the birth of algorithm-based security validation solutions. Its commercial debut was met with enthusiasm from a few early adopters and skepticism from many traditionalists. Nearly a decade later, Pentera, and several others, have expanded the envelope to fully automated infrastructure and application penetration testing with thousands of raving enterprise security professionals using the software daily.

****Embracing Automated Solutions****

The shift toward automation is gaining momentum, and the benefits of frequent and thorough testing are evident. While there's still a place for the expert work of a master pentester for application testing, physical-cyber attack paths, and other advanced and bespoke scenarios, the need for broad coverage and frequent checks is clear. When it comes to addressing the world's hundreds of millions of untested systems, software-based solutions offer unmatched efficiency and affordability. As cybersecurity challenges continue to grow, investing in automated PT isn't just a smart move—it's essential for maintaining robust security defenses without breaking the bank.

The Future of Cybersecurity Testing - is in Software. So, I ask: why pay a pentester?

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Why Pay A Pentester?

The GSM Association, the governing body that oversees the development of the Rich Communications Services (RCS) protocol, on Tuesday, said it's working towards implementing end-to-end encryption (E2EE) to secure messages sent between the Android and iOS ecosystems.
"The next major milestone is for the RCS Universal Profile to add important user protections such as interoperable end-to-end

Mobile Security / Encryption

The GSM Association, the governing body that oversees the development of the Rich Communications Services (RCS) protocol, on Tuesday, said it's working towards implementing end-to-end encryption (E2EE) to secure messages sent between the Android and iOS ecosystems.

"The next major milestone is for the RCS Universal Profile to add important user protections such as interoperable end-to-end encryption," Tom Van Pelt, technical director of GSMA, said.

"This will be the first deployment of standardized, interoperable messaging encryption between different computing platforms, addressing significant technical challenges such as key federation and cryptographically-enforced group membership."

The development comes a day after Apple officially rolled out iOS 18 with support for RCS in its Messages app, which comes with advanced features like message reactions, typing indications, read receipts, and high-quality media sharing, among others.

RCS, an improvement over the current SMS standard, is currently not end-to-end encrypted out of the box, prompting Google to implement the Signal protocol to secure RCS conversations on Android.

Earlier this year, Apple said it will work with GSMA members to integrate encryption. It's worth noting that the company's proprietary iMessage service is E2EE enabled.

"We look forward to continuing to collaborate across the mobile ecosystem to advance the RCS standard with interoperable end-to-end encryption to keep all RCS messages private and secure," Van Pelt said.

Google, last July, also revealed plans for baking the Message Layer Security (MLS) protocol to its Messages app for Android in order to facilitate interoperability across messaging services and platforms.

As recently as this month, Meta detailed its approach to enable interoperability with third-party messaging services in WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger as part of its efforts to comply with the E.U. Digital Markets Act (DMA) while maintaining E2EE guarantees "as far as possible."

"Building third-party chats is technically challenging and preserving privacy and security is a shared responsibility," the social media company said. "We have already come a long way, but there is a lot more to build."

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