‘Mass destruction due to millions of cars on the roads…’, even America is scared of pager blast, imposed this ban on China

New Delhi: Pager bomb blasts and walkie-talkie blasts in Lebanon have created panic all over the world about the dangerous use of technology. Dozens of people were killed and thousands were injured in these attacks targeting fighters of the anti-Israel Lebanese group Hezbollah. After this attack, America has also become alert. The US Commerce Department is thinking of banning Chinese software and hardware in vehicles running in the country due to security concerns.

Sources informed the news agency about this concern of America. US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said, ‘You can imagine how big a mass destruction will happen when millions of cars are running on the roads and suddenly their software is disabled.’

Sources said that if America takes this step against China, then the import and sale of vehicles with automatic driving system software and hardware from China will be banned. Almost all vehicles running on the roads of America are considered to be connected. Connected vehicles have onboard network hardware that provides access to the Internet. This allows data to be shared with devices both inside and outside the vehicle.

In November, a group of US lawmakers raised concerns that Chinese auto and tech companies take sensitive data during testing of vehicles in the US and may store it for future use. US President Joe Biden ordered an investigation into the security risks of vehicles purchased from China in February.

British media report warns of Chinese spyware
Last year, a British media report claimed that intelligence officials had concerns about Chinese spyware. For this reason, they had government and diplomatic vehicles checked. The investigation found at least one SIM card that could send location data. The report claimed that the device was purchased from a Chinese supplier.

Before the pager and walkie-talkie blast in Lebanon, it was believed that espionage could be done through electronic devices, but after the blast, the threat of a new kind of war has increased. Now, even from a distance, electronic devices can be blasted to cause havoc, such as disabling connected cars and causing massive destruction on the road.

The risk of supply chain breach increases
Hezbollah has blamed Israel for the pager explosion in Lebanon. This attack has presented a new threat of supply chain war. A report said that Israel put explosives in pagers made by a Taiwanese firm ‘Gold Apollo’. According to reports, the pieces of the exploded pagers had Gold Apollo’s logo and stickers. However, Gold Apollo has claimed that its pagers were made by Budapest (Hungary)-based BAC Consulting. The consulting company owned the use of Gold Apollo’s logo. And Hungarian officials said that the company is a trade intermediary, and does not manufacture anything in the country.

Global electronic supply chains often pass through a maze of contractors, sub-contractors and component suppliers spread across several countries. China plays a huge role in these supply chains as it supplies most of the world’s electronics. Huawei, a Chinese telecom company based in Shenzhen, China, has been at the center of technology rivalry between China and the US for many years. US officials have warned that Chinese officials could spy using its devices, although China has denied these allegations.

Michael Watt, a supply chain expert at business risk consultancy firm Kroll, told the Washington Post that governments could start increasing scrutiny of shipments of goods coming and going from their ports. Watt said, ‘This should be a warning to the governments of the country that they should consider any kind of deficiency in all the goods coming under their custom control.’ But the current situation is that when most electronic goods come from one country to another, they are checked very little. Watt says that if additional checking of all the goods is started, then this will also create additional bottlenecks in the supply chain.

The pager blast also raised China’s concern
After the pager blast, while America has become cautious about importing electronic devices from China, China may also be worried about the use of electronic products as weapons against it. Muhammad Faizal Abdul Rahman, research fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, while talking to the South China Morning Post, said that China will now look with more suspicion at the electronic and communication products made by America and its allies – including Taiwan.

He said, ‘There are some people in China who believe that Taiwan, which is a close ally of America and is also close to Israel in this way, is somehow involved in this secret operation. After this, China can keep a more vigilant eye on the rest of Taiwan’s industries as well.’ Abdul Rahman says that the intelligence and military agencies of the world’s major powers and their allies can misuse the global supply chain and prepare war devices in advance. They can activate these prepared devices during a conflict or war and cause havoc.