Lebanon blasts raise alarm about supply chain security, safety of tech

At least 32 people were killed when thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies detonated in attacks blamed on Israel.

The use of pagers and walkie-talkies in back-to-back coordinated explosions in Lebanon has drawn scrutiny to the security of global supply chains and their vulnerability to tampering by governments or other actors.

The utilisation of thousands of electronic devices in the attacks, which are widely believed to have been orchestrated by Israel as part of an operation targeting Lebanon’s armed group Hezbollah, has raised the spectre of everyday communications equipment being weaponised in the future.

Tech companies are likely to see the attacks as a powerful reminder of the importance of securing their supply chains, while the general public’s trust in technology may also take a hit, tech industry and supply chain analysts told Al Jazeera.

“Every company that makes or sells physical devices will be worrying about the integrity of their supply chain,” said James Grimmelmann, Tessler Family professor of digital and information law at Cornell Tech and Cornell Law School in the United States.

“They are likely to consider adding additional safeguards and verifications so that they can better detect and prevent moves like this.”