January 20, 2009 at 11:52 am
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Secure Cell Phones
January 20, 2009 at 12:04 pm
I guess I don't get why it would be insecure for the president to have a Blackberry or other smartphone. Don't put military or other sensitive information on it. Don't set up "the button" as an e-mail in your address book. And so on, but why would it be "more secure" to have people instead of a device?
After all, humans have at least 10,000 years of security issues, and DNA isn't exactly "open source". There isn't even a disclosure policy for when new weaknesses are discovered! Kidding aside, people are more likely to garble data, and so on, than a device is. And people are at least as likely to steal/misuse data.
- Gus "GSquared", RSVP, OODA, MAP, NMVP, FAQ, SAT, SQL, DNA, RNA, UOI, IOU, AM, PM, AD, BC, BCE, USA, UN, CF, ROFL, LOL, ETC
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"Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everyone agrees it's old enough to know better." - Anon
January 20, 2009 at 7:15 pm
I'm not sure what the problem is myself. There's a GPS, but we know where the President is most of the time. Not like he travels alone.
There is the possibility someone would hack into it and send messages out, but nobody with Obama's Blackberry number or email should be accepting "official" communications with it.
Hopefully this isn't a US (Microsoft) v Canadian (RIM) thing.
January 20, 2009 at 10:18 pm
Broke 4!?! I am still using my old Palm Pilot m130 and Nokia 8210 from years ago. I really need to upgrade!
Perhaps "they" would like to better control the information President Obama gets. After all you can't have a president that is in touch with (gasp) "the general public".
Good luck to you all in the USA. Your new president looks like a good'un.
Cheers.
Nicole Bowman
Nothing is forever.
January 21, 2009 at 5:10 am
[people multitasking] I think it is disgusting to have a person I am physically present with carrying on a remote conversation with someone or thing while I am talking to them. For that matter people carrying on 2 conversations of any kind in my mind shows a lack of respect for either party.
[Obama and Blackberry] Every thought that the President records in any form is public record. Therefore all his "private" electronic conversations would by necessity be available to the public at some point. I believe the argument is that "for his own protection" he should not use a Blackberry. You know that there are legions of people foreign and domestic that would love nothing better then to embarrass the President. This is all aside from the security issues with the devices themselves. Let us not kid ourselves that our President is going to correspond with "Joe or Josephine" commoner, to get his information. His advisors will still only be people he trusts, whether he gets his information face to face or otherwise. I think it is great that there is this "spirit" of openness. Let's not kid ourselves into thinking it is more open than it really is however.
[General Note] Regardless of how you voted, we [in the US and others I suppose] should cheer that we have once again transferred power without military force or violence. Despite the fact that we think it is normal, the world clearly indicates otherwise.
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Livin' down on the cube farm. Left, left, then a right.
January 21, 2009 at 6:51 am
I'd have to agree with Tobar with regards to people carrying out remote conversations while being engaged with someone else - it is very rude indeed!
Coming back to secure cell phones, I think the actual question should be: what is it that is in on your cell phones that one would want them to be secure? If it's a personal cell phone, I could care less if someone steals my themes or ring tones. If it's a work device, one has to use proper judgement when storing sensitive material on the phone itself. But then again, that would be applicable to not just cell phones but any mobile device for that matter.
January 21, 2009 at 7:33 am
Steve Jones - Editor (1/20/2009)
I've love to have a secure cell phone, something that couldn't be scanned or eavesdropped on, but at $3,000+ a copy, I'm not sure I'd get one of these anytime soon. Especially given the fact I broke 4 last year.
Having watched the video about the Sectera Edge, I think you'd really have to treat it badly to break one of these devices!
Survive 4ft drop onto concrete 26 times...water jet for 40 minutes...operating in 140F to -9F...vibration tested...dust resistant!
Of course, you could probably just take a hammer to it! 😀
Derek
January 21, 2009 at 7:50 am
or a horse?
I came to the conclusion the Dash was very poorly built. A 6" drop broke one. I've seen iPhones survive multiple falls from 3ft+, so I have my eye on one of them.
January 21, 2009 at 7:53 am
FWIW: There are several brands of encryption "sleds" that can be added to the Blackberry. They add a little less than half an inch to the depth of the device; not perfect but better than free text.
January 21, 2009 at 8:27 am
I've seen iPhones survive multiple falls from 3ft+, so I have my eye on one of them.
Believe it or not Steve, I had the iPhone and I think I hold the record for returning it within 10 days!! Reasons:
1. There was a noticeable lag between application loads - once it took me a good 4-5 seconds to finally get to the screen to dial home! It also had to do partially with the fact that the phone just wouldn't register my screen touches at times.
2. No tactile feeling - I couldn't dial 911 if I had to without looking at the damn screen!
3. Lack of privacy - you could see the pin I dialed for my VM from a few feet away!
4. The fear of rendering it useless if it ever fell keeping in mind that I am the kinda guy who drops his cell phone every now and then.
PS. I am now quite happy and content with my Sony Ericcson W380a 🙂
January 21, 2009 at 8:39 am
It seesm that we forgot about the fact that all Blackberry text messages and emails worldwide are routed throuh 2 RIM datacenters. Granted they are on different continents, but it seems to me that that certainly constitues a 'target' and a single point of failure.
RegardsRudy KomacsarSenior Database Administrator"Ave Caesar! - Morituri te salutamus."
January 21, 2009 at 8:59 am
Eavesdropping is the biggest issue. Using a phone to intercept conversations could seriously impact national security. Insuring that no one has physical access to the phone and removing the battery are currently the only ways to secure a phone. This should not be the case.
Karen Gayda
MCP, MCSD, MCDBA
gaydaware.com
January 21, 2009 at 9:04 am
kgayda (1/21/2009)
...removing the battery...
Haven't you then got a paperweight instead of a phone?
Derek
January 21, 2009 at 9:06 am
Well, if President Obama's phone is anything like any of the Windows Mobile devices I've seen, I'd say it'll be very secure indeed. I've not seen too many of them stay operational long enough for a hacker to get in their stride ;).
Seriously, though, I agree with the point made by several other posters that the weak point isn't the phone itself, but the communication between them, and should be regarded as just as open as (perhaps more so than) standard smtp comms across the Internet.
Semper in excretia, suus solum profundum variat
January 21, 2009 at 9:10 am
majorbloodnock (1/21/2009)
Well, if President Obama's phone is anything like any of the Windows Mobile devices I've seen, I'd say it'll be very secure indeed. I've not seen too many of them stay operational long enough for a hacker to get in their stride ;).Seriously, though, I agree with the point made by several other posters that the weak point isn't the phone itself, but the communication between them, and should be regarded as just as open as (perhaps more so than) standard smtp comms across the Internet.
I've got a T-Mobile Dash that uses Windows mobile, and my only problem with it over the last year (14 months, to be precise) is that the battery life slowly decayed to a point that it wouldn't even stay charged all day after charging all night. Replaced the battery on Monday and that problem is gone.
As far as communication security, unless it's a specifically secured land-line that is regularly checked for bugs and taps, and the room it's in is regularly checked for bugs, and the room has no exposure to exterior windows, it's not secure.
I think it was Mark Twain who said that a secret is something that only one person knows. The implication being, of course, that as soon as two people know it, you have to assume that everyone knows it.
- Gus "GSquared", RSVP, OODA, MAP, NMVP, FAQ, SAT, SQL, DNA, RNA, UOI, IOU, AM, PM, AD, BC, BCE, USA, UN, CF, ROFL, LOL, ETC
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"Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everyone agrees it's old enough to know better." - Anon
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