I will keep this essay brief, and to the point. Readers of my novel Expatriates and Liberators will recall how I fictionally described the use of both time-delayed and remotely-controlled incendiaries and explosives. I have recently been considering the potential threat posed by the inclusion of lithium-ion rechargeable batteries in consumer products that have Internet connections. As the Internet of Things (IoT) proliferates, I believe that the possibility of malicious, remotely-controlled battery fires is a growing threat.
It has already been well-documented that thermal runaway battery fires are an increasingly common occurrence. These fires happen often, even in devices that are American-designed with safety in mind. Recently, a thermal runaway battery fire was blamed for the sinking of a ship loaded with 3.000 newly-manuactured electric cars, from China. But what if terrorists exploited the threat of battery fires via malware, in a coordinated terror campaign?
It is reasonable to assume that a clever group of hackers could create malware that could induce a thermal runaway fire in almost any battery-powered (or battery backup) device or vehicle that is connected to a software-controlled charger. I am not the first to mention this possibility. In February, 2024, this was suggested as a threat to smartphone batteries. And in October, 2024, the same was mentioned about Electric Vehicle (EV) batteries. If a large-scale terror campaign employed simultaneity, it could have devastating consequences that would overwhelm the ability of fire departments to respond effectively.
Timing Is Everything
To modern-day international terrorists, timing is everything. Simultaneous event coordination was the key to Osama Bin Laden’s 9/11/2001 attacks. And look at how simultaneity maximized the effectiveness of the Israeli Mossad’s notorious Exploding Pagers coup. Just put on a Bad Guy thinking cap for a moment: Consider that a global terror cyber attack could be timed for “the worst possible moment” — to coincide with a larger world event. Say, for example, a Mainland China invasion of Taiwan or a Russian invasion of Poland.
A battery fire viral hack could also be timed to coincide with a widespread cyber warfare campaign against a wide variety of infrastructures, orchestrating a full-scale “Fire Sale” series of timed attacks. (In a Fire Sale, “Everything Must Go.”)
Just some food for thought and grounds for further research. – JWR
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