Don’t Fool Yourself About the Exploding Pagers

Electronics are a global business, and the events of the past two days in Lebanon have created an unexpected information fog of war. Virtually everyone uses personal electronic devices—phones, headphones, chargers, and even, in some cases, pagers. Those devices can, under certain circumstances, create risk. Gadgets catch on fire, get hacked so that remote intruders can spy on you, or get infected with malware that turns them into botnets. Might your smartphone just explode one morning as you’re reach for it on the nightstand? Almost surely not.