The MP from “We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria” Bozhidar Bojanov expressed concerns about the scanners that the caretaker cabinet has ordered for the customs. His concerns are in the context of the terrorist attack in Lebanon, which claimed eight lives and injured thousands. We publish Bojanov’s opinion, expressed on the social network Facebook, without editorial interference:
“Eight dead and thousands injured in Lebanon after the pagers used by Hezbollah exploded simultaneously.
I will comment on this attack in terms of the national security challenges: this appears to be a so-called ‘supply chain attack’ and raises serious questions about the security of every device used in every public sector unit, and especially power structures and critical infrastructure sites.
Anyone buying hardware and software must have full information not only about the manufacturer, but also where the key parts are from, where and who writes the software and where and who assembles it, and what security standards it applies. These checks are not only technological, but also of ownership and of the relationships of those in management positions.
Not everything can blow up, but everything can transmit information. Both over the Internet, if there is connectivity, and in other ways, in physical proximity. Perhaps the pagers received a message at the same time that activated them, and before that they were sending information unnoticed.
Along these lines, there are concerns about the scanners ordered by the Cabinet Office for Customs. Along the same line were my concerns about the validators in the metro, which turned out to be Russian. On the face of it, even a ‘pager attack’ may sound comically like a “Russian validator”, but the risks are serious.
National security agencies are obliged to keep an eye out for such details and to analyse supply chains (physical and virtual) to prevent incidents. I don’t expect anyone to blow anything up in Bulgaria, but breaches for the purpose of siphoning off information or shutting down systems to cause disruption are entirely possible.”
