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Reading @pluralistic's take on battery bombs and security theatre here:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/12/06/shoenabombers/#paging-dick-cheney
I was struck by an idea ...
1. Supply chain attack on iPhones to install PETN battery bombs and malware
2. Malware on iPhone bombs tracks location and looks for barometric pressure reported by a Watch Ultra (they have an altimeter)
3. Phone set to explode when Watch visits an airport then altitude increases from surface level to over 2000 metres in under 5 minutes
Brrr!
@cstross the good news is that airlines are pretty tough and the amount of explosives that can be stuffed in an electronic device is pretty small. The 3 most recent incidents that destroyed a plane were Oct 2015 metro jet 9268, Aug 2004 chechen bomb plot, and Nov 1989 Avianca 203. There would be lots of injuries/fatalities, but the planes would probably remain flyable if a pilot was ok.
@Argonel I think you missed the August 2023 takedown of Yevgeny Prigozhin's jet in the wake of the Wagner Group mutiny against Putin, but nobody who knows is saying exactly what sort of bomb was used: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wagner_Group#Plane_crash
@cstross I did, but I would also exclude counting it as an airliner since the total capacity is under 20 people.
@cstross I also excluded China Northern 6136 in May 2002 categorizing it a gasoline fire not a bomb. Fatalities were mostly CO inhalation, though no one survived the crash.