14 DAY TRIAL // Security concerns arise again around Donald Trump and his use of an unsecured smartphone. Two U.S. senators wrote to defense secretary James Mattis regarding this issue and asking for an investigation.
“As you know, hackers often target smartphones in an attempt to obtain sensitive, personal information from the user,” wrote senators Tom Carper and Claire McCaskill, noting that these reports about Trump’s preference for his old phone are quite troubling.
“While it is important for the President to have the ability to communicate electronically, it is equally important that he does so in a manner that is secure and that ensures the preservation of presidential records,” the letter reads.
Hackers have an extensive arsenal and getting into the President’s phone could be as easy as getting him to click a link leading to a malicious site. Malware could then be used not only to get access to all the data on the phone but also to record audio and video, effectively turning Trump’s phone into a spying device.
Concerns reached a new high this past weekend when pictures surfaced on social media showing Trump freely discussing state matters regarding North Korea’s missile test on the phone while at dinner with Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe.
For the low-low price of $200,000 and no background check you too can live-stream a military crisis meeting. pic.twitter.com/vNd8Jo7Bq5 — Rogue Rogue One Acct (@ZeddRebel) February 13, 2017
Safe or not?
The letter addresses a concern many have had over the past several weeks since Trump has been in office. That’s because while initial reports indicated that Trump had been given a secured mobile phone, as other presidents before him, he prefers his Android handset.
Trump has expressed his reluctance to give up his old Samsung Galaxy S3, a phone that hasn’t received a security update in years. On the other hand, he is not legally bound to use the secured phone either. Such a device is always susceptible to hackers if incorrectly used, especially when compared to the tightly secured phones presidents receive.
Analysis of Trump’s social media activity, particularly his 3 A.M. Twitter tirades, indicate that Trump is indeed using an Android phone. Whether that’s one of the Android smartphones approved by the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) or his very own is unknown. On the other hand, there’s also the question about whether even the Samsung Galaxy S4, which is approved by DISA, can have Twitter installed on it.
Former U.S. President Barack Obama started out in the office with a secured BlackBerry device, which he later upgraded to an Android device. During an interview with Jimmy Fallon, however, he said that his phone pretty much has the capabilities of a toddler’s play phone. “This is a great phone, state of the art, but it doesn’t take pictures, you can’t text, the phone doesn’t work, you can’t play your music on it,” Obama said.