The woman whose company was linked to thousands of pagers that exploded in Lebanon and Syria this week is under the protection of the Hungarian secret services, her mother told The Associated Press on Friday.

Cristiana Bársony-Arcidiacono has not appeared publicly since the deadly attack that targeted Iran-backed Hezbollah and that has been widely blamed on Israel.

She speaks seven languages, has a PhD in particle physics, an apartment in Budapest plastered with her own pastel drawings of nudes, and a career that took her around Africa and Europe doing humanitarian work.