Confusion surrounds companies in the Lebanon explosion cases

On Wednesday, thousands of handheld walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah members in Lebanon were destroyed in explosions in Beirut’s suburbs and the Bekaa Valley, following a similar incident with pagers the day before. The walkie-talkies appeared to be counterfeit versions of Icom’s IC-V82 model, according to Icom’s senior sales manager Ray Novak. Icom, a Japanese communication company, stopped producing this model in 2014 and suggested that the batteries might have been altered with explosives.

The pagers involved in Tuesday’s explosion were branded with Gold Apollo, which had licensed its name to Budapest-based BAC Consulting KFT. However, BAC’s CEO denied involvement, claiming to be merely an intermediary, while the Hungarian government distanced itself from the incident. Cybersecurity expert Hadi El Khoury highlighted vulnerabilities in relying on foreign technology, which can expose users to risks.

Credit : CGTN