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When Trump Phones Friends, the Chinese and the Russians Listen and Learn

nytimes.com

11–20 of 97 posts

Re: When Trump Phones Friends, the Chinese and the Russians Listen and Learn

#11
post #3

Hmm...why don't they force Wifi calling? Should be more secure than GSM, no?

Does the white house have wifi? Serious question.

Yes, but it's spotty.

http://fortune.com/2016/02/08/white-house-bad-wifi-obama/

Re: When Trump Phones Friends, the Chinese and the Russians Listen and Learn

#12
post #3

Hmm...why don't they force Wifi calling? Should be more secure than GSM, no?

Does the white house have wifi? Serious question.

Yes it does, Obama directly addresses the topic in this interview: https://www.cbsnews.com/video/president-barack-obama-and-mrs...

> King asked, "Is the water pressure good? Is there Wi-Fi? Does the toilet run in the Lincoln bedroom."

> "You know that whole tech thing, we've been trying to get that straight for the next group of folks," President Obama replied. "This is an old building so there's a lot of dead spots where the WiFi doesn't work...no, actually it's an issue."

Re: When Trump Phones Friends, the Chinese and the Russians Listen and Learn

#13

> Mr. Trump’s aides have repeatedly warned him that his cellphone calls are not secure, and they have told him that Russian spies are routinely eavesdropping on the calls, as well. But aides say the voluble president, who has been pressured into using his secure White House landline more often these days, has still refused to give up his iPhones. How is blatant disregard for communication security not an impeachable…

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/aug/19/hillary-cli...

It's all a joke

Re: When Trump Phones Friends, the Chinese and the Russians Listen and Learn

#14
post #7

>Officials said the president has two official iPhones that have been altered by the National Security Agency to limit their capabilities — and vulnerabilities — and a third personal phone that is no different from hundreds of millions of iPhones in use around the world. Mr. Trump keeps the personal phone, White House officials said, because unlike his other two phones, he can store his contacts in it. If this is tru…

[deleted]

Re: When Trump Phones Friends, the Chinese and the Russians Listen and Learn

#15

> Mr. Trump’s aides have repeatedly warned him that his cellphone calls are not secure, and they have told him that Russian spies are routinely eavesdropping on the calls, as well. But aides say the voluble president, who has been pressured into using his secure White House landline more often these days, has still refused to give up his iPhones. How is blatant disregard for communication security not an impeachable…

[deleted]

Re: When Trump Phones Friends, the Chinese and the Russians Listen and Learn

#16
Why don't they have a mobile cell access point (like a Stingray) that they carry around with the president, for his off the shelf iPhone to connect to? And this access point would connect securely to a NSA proxy or whatever.

Or is the problem further down the line, do the Chinese intercept the international carrier links between USA and Germany let's say?

Re: When Trump Phones Friends, the Chinese and the Russians Listen and Learn

#17
post #16

Why don't they have a mobile cell access point (like a Stingray) that they carry around with the president, for his off the shelf iPhone to connect to? And this access point would connect securely to a NSA proxy or whatever. Or is the problem further down the line, do the Chinese intercept the international carrier links between USA and Germany let's say?

Or why not use a VOIP like protocol with end to end encryption like WhatsApp or telegram ?

Re: When Trump Phones Friends, the Chinese and the Russians Listen and Learn

#18
post #16

Why don't they have a mobile cell access point (like a Stingray) that they carry around with the president, for his off the shelf iPhone to connect to? And this access point would connect securely to a NSA proxy or whatever. Or is the problem further down the line, do the Chinese intercept the international carrier links between USA and Germany let's say?

Given the money the US military has (equal to 50% of the entire Russian economy), you'd sure think they could afford to throw whatever was necessary at improving security for Trump's iPhone situation. I suspect the point of an article like this, which is an off the record leak of internal information that wasn't authorized, is to get Trump to abandon the iPhone period. I don't think these insiders want to bother with trying to increase the security for how things are now (they may view it as very impractical), they're seeking to embarrass Trump into changing behavior (good luck).

Re: When Trump Phones Friends, the Chinese and the Russians Listen and Learn

#19
post #3

Hmm...why don't they force Wifi calling? Should be more secure than GSM, no?

I don't think the technology of choice here is the problem. It's that the President doesn't care if he is compromised, but that he sold the nation on how unsafe Hillary would be with communications.

Pick any tech you like for the President's* phone calls, foreign governments will still listen because he simply doesn't care.

Edit: Also, why was Russia, the country that is actively attacking the US and has been for years, removed from the headline? Seems the most important part. (and don't tell me it doesn't fit, there's plenty of room).

Re: When Trump Phones Friends, the Chinese and the Russians Listen and Learn

#20

It would be interesting if phone calls ended up becoming end-to-end encrypted because of something like this.

I think that it is more likely that the president and certain other VIPs would get end-to-end encryption. Remember, law enforcement agencies still paint the picture that only drug dealers, terrorists, and other criminals need end-to-end encryption.
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