this post was submitted on 21 Sep 2024

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The reason we don’t see exploding battery attacks more often is not because it’s technically hard, it’s because the erosion of public trust in everyday things isn’t worth it. (www.bunniestudios.com)

submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by cypherpunks@lemmy.ml to c/technology@lemmy.world

83 comments fedilink hide all child comments

edit: after 20 comments, i'm adding a post description here, since most of the commenters so far appear not to be reading the article:

This is about how surprisingly cheap it is (eg $15,000) to buy a complete production line to be able to manufacture batteries with a layer of nearly-undetectable explosives inside of them, which can be triggered by off-the-shelf devices with only their firmware modified.

screenshot of paragraph from the article saying "The process to build such batteries is well understood and documented. Here is an excerpt from one vendor’s site promising to sell the equipment to build batteries in limited quantities (tens-to-hundreds per batch) for as little as $15,000:" followed by a screenshot of "Flow-chart of Pouch Cell Lab-scale Fabrication" showing a 20 step process

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[–] FarceOfWill@infosec.pub 88 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (6 children)

Jfc Christ Lemmy.

Every single comment misunderstanding the point. The batteries are exploding because there's explosives in them. This does make them exploding batteries. They explode because they are partially made with explosives. Please don't "well actually" this.

No this is not a description of something Israel did, it's a hypothetical way to do a similar attack to show how within reach of idiot terrorists it is.

Raising the idea of doing this so everyone is thinking about it is extremely bad for us all. Thanks Israel.

[–] db2@lemmy.world 28 points 3 months ago (6 children)

Please don't well actually this.

Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?

[–] 8000gnat@reddthat.com 2 points 3 months ago

even electronic brain pancake crystal elderly

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[–] Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee 16 points 3 months ago

No, it doesn't. The battery itself is not the source of the explosion, it's the explosive hidden inside it.

A regular battery cannot be made to explode in this way.

[–] Tikiporch@lemmy.world 15 points 3 months ago

I think there may be a couple edits needed in your comment. Reread slowly and get back to us.

[–] femtech@midwest.social 11 points 3 months ago (4 children)

That does not make them exploding batteries, it had explosives in them. A suicide bomber is not an explosive human.

[–] eatthecake@lemmy.world 13 points 3 months ago (1 children)

A suicide bomber is not an explosive human but they are an exploding human.

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[–] NeoNachtwaechter@lemmy.world 10 points 3 months ago (4 children)

Jfc Christ Lemmy.Every single comment misunderstanding the point.

Pedantics fighting pedantics LOL

The batteries are exploding because there's explosives in them. This does make them exploding batteries.

And when you put the same explosives inside a barbie doll and make it go off, then it wasn't an exploding barbie doll. Or was it? ;-)

[–] boatswain@infosec.pub 6 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Pedantics fighting pedantics LOL

I think you mean "pedants fighting pedants" :p

[–] ilega_dh@feddit.nl 3 points 3 months ago

This really should be the unofficial name of places like lemmy and reddit

[–] Cocodapuf@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago

Fun fact, a group of pedants is called a flem. To use it in a sentence: "the party was ruined by a flem of pedants".

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[–] ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 3 months ago (1 children)

JFC Christ, does anyone know where the nearest ATM Machine is?

[–] FarceOfWill@infosec.pub 3 points 3 months ago

Jesus Fried Chicken Christ

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 58 points 3 months ago (1 children)

It's also a big ass war crime. And if you did it habitually as anyone other than the West you could expect a visit from the US military. Inside the West you'd likely end up in prison. Except Israel. Israel is just immune to everything because uhhh... Because... Well nobody actually has a good reason.

[–] MrScottyTay@sh.itjust.works 19 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Because people are scared to be seen as an anti-Semite if you are critical of a Jewish state and their wrongdoings.

This is how Jeremy Corbyn got slammed as being an anti-Semite across the media and eventually kicked out of the labour party.

[–] Ilandar@aussie.zone 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Corbyn was also good friends with Ken Livingstone, who said some very strange things about Hitler and the Jews.

[–] MrScottyTay@sh.itjust.works 6 points 3 months ago

Everyone's had dickhead friends

[–] AWittyUsername@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago

The jewish chronicle to thank for that.

[–] Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee 58 points 3 months ago (14 children)

Just to be clear, the pager thing wasn't exploding batteries, they had apparently been modified at the production level to have explosives in them, which could be triggered by the pager system itself.

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[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 58 points 3 months ago (5 children)

Even though your edit clarified it, I wish we’d stop calling them “exploding batteries”. The battery isn’t the explosive, it’s the explosives that were hidden in the device. I’ve already encountered far too many morons describing conspiracies where the big bad government could make your iPhone explode.

[–] grudan@programming.dev 8 points 3 months ago

Title felt misleading.

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[–] ashar@infosec.pub 51 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Sending out IEDs that will probably explode in a supermarket and kill civilians is generally considered a war crime. So far 2 kids killed in Beirut by the Israeli bombs in devices.

[–] roofuskit@lemmy.world 23 points 3 months ago

Exterminating the next generation of people who would live on the land they want to steal is the goal.

[–] therealjcdenton@lemmy.zip 46 points 3 months ago

I don't think terrorists care about the people's trust in everyday things

[–] ryathal@sh.itjust.works 20 points 3 months ago (6 children)

We don't see exploding batteries more because most militaries are better about securing their supply chain.

[–] geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml 12 points 3 months ago

The attack hit many civilians. For militaires it might be feasible to secure their chain. For terror attacks, which this was, it would be far more difficult.

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[–] tal@lemmy.today 10 points 3 months ago

Context: bunniestudios.com is run by bunnie, the guy who was involved with the hardware side of breaking DRM on the original XBox; he later went into consumer electronics manufacturing.

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 10 points 3 months ago (4 children)

And also because it's impossible.

So it is actually in fact very hard. What they had was exploding explosives which are not hard.

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[–] LesserAbe@lemmy.world 6 points 3 months ago

But I don't want my devices to be bombs

[–] SlopppyEngineer@lemmy.world 5 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (8 children)

Lithium burns intensely but it doesn't explode. An electric car can burn for a long time, but they don't explode. One of the comments says so

I understand that what happened in Libanon was that dedicated explosives were added to the devices, it was not the batteries exploding. But that does not take away the conclusion of your story.

It shouldn't be undetectable. Throw a device from s series into a fire as a spot check and if it burns it's ok, if it explodes give the entire series to your enemy's kids to play with.

[–] vzq@lemmy.blahaj.zone 18 points 3 months ago

Throw a device from s series into a fire as a spot check and if it burns it's ok, if it explodes give the entire series to your enemy's kids to play with.

Most high explosives burn unless detonated properly.

This is really basic stuff. I don’t think you should be out and about giving people advice about handling (potential) explosives.

[–] NeatNit@discuss.tchncs.de 16 points 3 months ago (3 children)

I am not an explosives expert, but I've seen enough YouTube videos about explosives to know that not all explosives explode in fire. Some are incredibly stable at extreme conditions right up until deliberately triggered. It all depends on the type of explosives.

There may still be ways to detect them, but it's not necessarily going to be that simple.

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[–] ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Heads up, I don't think C4 explodes when burned. I think it requires electronic detonation or a blasting cap.

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[–] Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee 2 points 3 months ago

It depends on the explosive, C-4, and I think all plastic explosives, will burn in a fire.

[–] dyslexicdainbroner@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)