14 DAY TRIAL // Donald Trump himself admitted that social networks played a key role in him becoming the new President of the United States, and although he claimed he’d no longer be so active on Twitter and Facebook, some posts would still be made after January 2017.
This is exactly what’s worrying security experts in the United States, who think that Donald Trump using social media could expose him to various attacks, especially given the fact that he’s using an Android phone.
Although some of the posts he made on Twitter during his presidential campaign came from an iPhone, security researchers who analyzed his social media activity claim the President-elect is actively using an Android phone.
This leads to unneeded risks, especially because he wants to continue using social media, where links or malicious files could be directed to him, experts told The Telegraph.
"President Obama was given a phone modified for his personal use, limited to making phone calls - I think this will be the same for the President-elect, with his tweeting done through a dedicated aide," says Martin Alderson, co-founder of mobile security company Codified Security.
More secure versions of BlackBerry devices have long been the devices of choice for the NSA when it came to the president of the United States, but more recently, it was believed that a hardened version of a Samsung Galaxy S4 was picked for Barack Obama. Although this is still an Android device, the NSA blocked pretty much everything except for calling features, so no risk of infection existed.
Custom phone?
In the case of Donald Trump, the NSA will have a much more difficult job, mostly because the President-elect has already announced that he wants to continue using his personal phone after replacing Barack Obama at the White House. But experts say this won’t be possible.
"President-elect Trump is going to find there’s no way he gets to continue using a phone in the same fashion as any other American citizen," added Alderson. "The number of critical vulnerabilities on his choice platform Android, such as Stagefright, TowelRoot, and Quadrooter, show that Android is high risk for someone in his position."
Although all these experts seem to point out that Android is more vulnerable to attacks than iOS, when it comes to the President of the United States, no platform is secure enough, so the NSA might have to turn to another hardened phone that restricts access to the majority of features.
Without a doubt, however, Trump won’t be able to take selfies or to install apps from app stores after becoming the President of the US. Although we bet he’ll try it.