EYEWITNESS NEWS (WBRE/WYOU) — The recent deadly attacks in the Middle East using electronic devices, namely pagers and radios, have raised questions about the overall security of electronic devices worldwide.
Friday night 28/22 News talk with a cyber security expert about what's being done to guard against device tampering.
We also hear from people who say they often take electronic device security for granted.
How safe are our electronic devices from so called bad actors? It's a question that is being highlighted after recent attacks in the Middle East. Those attacks involved the use of pagers and radios.
If it could happen to the terrorists could so called bad actors hit something like your cellphone too?
28/22 News I-Team reporter Andy Mehalshick is asking experts that very question.
The attacks by Israel targeted the terrorist group Hezbollah, and they caught the attention of cyber security experts around the world, who have long been concerned about the security of the global supply chain and access to electronic devices by bad actors or terrorist groups.
"It's definitely something we take for granted. It's something we never think about," said Gwendolyn Ormus of Kingston.
Gwendolyn Ormus is talking about cyber security regarding the electronic devices that most of us depend on everyday.
The attacks in the Middle East have raised concerns about the safety measures in place to protect our individual devices from bad actors as well as access to the global supply chain.
"It is and it's something that anybody who's in cyber security has already looked at. When you take a device into be repaired right or if you have a company getting the phone fixed see what's going in," stated Stephen Rappaport, Cyber Security Expert at Evolutionary Computers.
Rappaport says those bad actors can wreak havoc on electronic devices from afar if they can gain access to the cell service system.
"If they can get into the carriers towers the relay towers they can send signals out to jam them. They can send signals out to shut the device down or overheat it, but that's not as likely because the carriers have a lot of prevention in place for that and a team that's actually working to monitor for that," added Rappaport.
Steve Burke from Hanover Township says he is a vigilante when it comes to cyber security.
"I think we have to be conscious of one, our cell phones, two even our vehicles, our smartwatches. It's all connected in someway and potentially for anyone to get into that," cautioned Burke.
Rappaport advises people not to take cyber security for granted.
