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Ask HN: How can I tell if my electronic devices can be remotely detonated?

15 points by pcthrowaway ↗ HN
I have several cell phones, tablets, walkie talkies, laptops, and more, which recent events have me wondering about the safety of.

Is there a way I can determine if someone in the supply chain has tampered with them such that they can be remotely detonated?

In the recent pager detonations I believe it was determined that Pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) was inside the pagers. I haven't heard the same about walkie talkies, but I'm cautiously assuming the mechanism was similar

According to that wikipedia page on PETN[1]:

> Both parcels in the 2010 cargo plane bomb plot were x-rayed without the bombs being spotted. Qatar Airways said the PETN bomb "could not be detected by x-ray screening or trained sniffer dogs". The Bundeskriminalamt received copies of the Dubai x-rays, and an investigator said German staff would not have identified the bomb either. New airport security procedures followed in the U.S., largely to protect against PETN.

If these are undetectable by dogs, is there any method to detect explosive chemicals, such as detection strips, that are available to consumers?

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentaerythritol_tetranitrate

18 comments

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foxdie9992
Get the schematics and inspect them one-by-one. You are bound to find the explosive I guess. Unless it is a new kind of plastic explosive which can be made to look like a necessary part of the device. If you are a militia targeted by high profile enemies maybe you should have home/local production. :shrug:
repelsteeltje
> Get the schematics

That isn't easy if you're getting devices from consumer market. Requires cooperation of vendor, which might be compromised as well.

> If you are a militia targeted by high profile enemies maybe you should have home/local production

That's it. You might not need to do the actual production, but you need transparency of the supply and full understanding of the device.

Either that, or trust in some third party that does the heavy lifting.

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badpun
The battery may have explosive inside (which I believe was the case in Lebanon), inspecting elements one by one may not be enough.
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benoau
I think it would be pretty obvious the devices were tampered with if you actually opened them, you're just looking for something inexplicable that is superficially attached to the inside of the device.

I wouldn't get hung up on what specifically they used because it could be eavesdropping or GPS tracker, a different type of explosive, a chemical etc.

LinuxBender
Just adding to this for completeness sake that if one suspected a device of being tampered with in that manor I would not just open it. Maybe they did not add any anti-tampering switches or conductive strips but this would be the hard way to learn if they did.
2rsf
I am not sure in this case, the explosive can be hidden inside a battery and the work can look professional if the people doing it had enough time and skills.
t-3
Open it up, look for blasting caps.
mikewarot
Realistically, you can't. You're at the mercy of the NSA, CIA, and all of the other sufficiently funded and motivated actors. You might even get hit by mistake. This is the world we live in.
solardev
Realistically, it just comes down to not pissing off powerful and vengeful nations, especially Israel and Russia. If an intelligence service wants you dead, they're going to find ways.
_boffin_
Go through TSA
bell-cot
/s? (A-List intel services could and would design their devices to pass such inspections.)
TowerTall
if you don't want to open it you could weight it and compare that number with the specs
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bettingtall
Sure are a lot of cheap (<$30) wireless earbuds on the market these days...

Wouldn't it be something if a bluetooth signal could pop your head like Victoria Neuman?

bettingtall
Sure are a lot of cheap (<$30) wireless earbuds on the market these days.

Wouldn't it be something if a bluetooth signal could pop your head like Victoria Neuman?