Are you at risk? What we know about electronics makers linked to Lebanon blasts

Handheld communication device makers are in damage control after explosions in Lebanon left many dead and injured. The incident highlighted a terrifying new risk: intelligence services can now use devices not only to spy but also to kill. Here’s what we know about the companies behind the products involved:

🌏 Gold Apollo, a Taiwanese maker of alphanumeric pagers and wireless solutions, is at the center of the events after its AR924 series pagers exploded en masse in Lebanon and Syria. Founder Hsu Ching-Kuang told media the pagers were produced by BAC Consulting KFT, a dubious Hungary-based subcontractor registered in 2022 with only one employee, operating from a small residential building in Budapest.

🌏 Hsu says Gold Apollo did not design or manufacture the deadly pagers - thought to have been stuffed with 3 grams of explosives. Reached for commentary, BAC Consulting CEO Cristiana Barsony-Arcidiacono, an LSE and University of London graduate and former European Commission advisor, told US media she did “not make the pagers” and was “just the intermediary.” A government spokesman confirmed that BAC Consulting has no manufacturing presence in Hungary.

🌏 Icom Incorporated: Osaka-headquartered radio, wireless LAN and SIP solutions maker Icom is the other company implicated through its explosive IC-V82 VHF series of handheld walkie-talkies. The company said it can't confirm shipments to Lebanon, as production of the model stopped in 2014, and noted issues with counterfeiters using its brand.

🌏 Lebanese media reported that various electronic devices, including home solar systems, car batteries, electric scooters, laptops, fingerprint scanners, and iPhones, exploded in this week’s incidents. While Apple has faced past issues with iPhones catching fire or being used for spying, there is no confirmation of iPhones being deliberately used as explosive devices in Lebanon.

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