Congressman Calls For Probe Into Trump's Unsecured Android Phone (cnet.com) 507
An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNET: President Donald Trump regularly makes news because of his tweets. Now a congressman is making news because of the device the president reportedly uses to tweet. On Friday, Congressman Ted Lieu, a Democrat from Los Angeles, wrote a letter to the House Oversight Committee requesting an investigation into Trump's cybersecurity practices. In particular, he calls out Trump's apparent decision to keep using his personal Android phone instead of a secured phone the Secret Service issued him for his inauguration. The letter is also signed by 14 other members of Congress and calls for a public hearing to discuss the issues. "The device President Trump insists on using -- most likely the Samsung Galaxy S3 -- has particularly well documented vulnerabilities," the letter says. "The use of an unsecured phone risks the president of the United States being monitored by foreign or domestic adversaries, many of whom would be happy to hijack the president's prized Twitter account causing disastrous consequences for global security. Cybersecurity experts universally agree that an ordinary Android smartphone, which the president is reportedly using despite repeated warnings from the Secret Service, can be easily hacked."
How could you tell? (Score:4, Insightful)
Our president's postings are so bizarre.
Let's not make this political (Score:2, Funny)
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Go visit Mar-a-Lago and complain (Score:5, Informative)
Well if you're unhappy with it, why not pay the $200k fee and go tell the President yourself!?
He's selling access to himself for that. No kidding.
His home, Mar-a-largo is a private club, you pay $200k to join and have wide access to the President (fee was doubled when he because President and a suite was renamed "President Suite").
It's a dog and pony show folks.
http://www.bbc.com/news/video_and_audio/headlines/39006681
Re:Go visit Mar-a-Lago and complain (Score:4, Insightful)
It's funny how everything that his supporters claimed Clinton was doing, the unsecured phones, the pay-for-access, the cronyism, the corruption, is all stuff that we have absolute proof Turmp is doing barely a month into his presidency.
The guy is so brazen about it, he doesn't even bother to cover it up at least try to avoid doing the exact same thing he was criticising her for months earlier.
Re: Go visit Mar-a-Lago and complain (Score:2, Insightful)
He's of the permitted to break rules demographic, wealthy white male.
Re:Go visit Mar-a-Lago and complain (Score:4, Insightful)
It's funny that all of this stuff wasn't a big deal to you hyper-partisans when Clinton was accused of them, but they suddenly are a big deal when Trump is doing them.
Your rah-rah-my-team bullshit is fucking up our world. It's a big deal when both teams do it. (And I'm calling you out, Ami, because you were defending Clinton for these very same things.)
It's perfectly valid to point out and criticize hypocracy, regardless of whether one personally agrees or disagrees with the underlying position.
Re: (Score:2)
hypocracy
I see what you did there.
Re:Go visit Mar-a-Lago and complain (Score:5, Insightful)
hypocracy
I see what you did there.
Hasn't made it into the dictionary so far, but I can't think of another word for "Government by all the evil things you denounced to get you there in the first place."
Re:Go visit Mar-a-Lago and complain (Score:5, Insightful)
Why would I believe a serial liar like OKeefe who keeps getting caught again and again and again fabricating evidence for his shitty witchhunts, when multiple enquiries by people who are actually domain experts have said that no, there is just no evidence at all of it.
Re:Go visit Mar-a-Lago and complain (Score:4, Insightful)
> Why would I believe
Because when the PV videos on staging violence came out, we found evidence that Zulema Rodriguez was employed by MoveOn to be in Arizona, we have a video of her blocking the road and lying to cops, and that corroborates the video?
Your original source is a video by a guy who is famous for dishonestly editing videos... and yet you keep going back to him as a primary source.
I have absolutely zero confidence that you know how to determine if a piece of evidence is true or relevant.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
> Your original source is a video by a guy who is famous for dishonestly editing videos... and yet you keep going back to him as a primary source.
There's a bunch of evidence that corroborates it, unless you don't believe the FEC pay stubs [fec.gov] or the independent YouTube videos [youtube.com] of her lying to the cops?
You don't believe the DC police arrest records?
The evidence speaks for itself. I don't need to consider them credible.
Still cheaper (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
"His home, Mar-a-largo is a private club,..." ...created because none of the local clubs would have him as a member.
And neighbors complaining that only white trash goes there.
Re: (Score:3)
Secret service is trying to shut that down. Access is being limited.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new... [dailymail.co.uk]
Re: (Score:2)
Look at how casually Trump deals with state business. He is still in both the tycoon mode, and campaign mode at the same time.
See how he discusses critical world issues in the open, without any care for the documents or the matters at hand ...
Unbelievable ...
BBC: What do we learn from photos of US patio diplomacy? [bbc.com].
Re: Go visit Mar-a-Lago and complain (Score:5, Informative)
The Trump trademark was granted several months ago, when the majority of news sources still put him at a huge disadvantage in the polls. There was a 3 month period where you could dispute the trademark which ended last week.
Making up stories does nothing good to the press, it only makes people distrust them more.
If his phone can easily be hacked, (Score:3, Insightful)
then it very probably has ALREADY been hacked. The reason we haven't heard about it is a), it's been covered up or b), it hasn't been discovered yet, and the hacker is laying low in order to collect as much dirt as possible and/or do as much covert damage as possible. Trump as President is too high-profile, too controversial, too thoroughly disliked, and too valuable as a potential blackmail asset, for there NOT to have already been multiple hacking attempts by serious players with deep pockets. If he IS using anything like a stock Android phone, it's very unlikely that he hasn't already been pwned at least once.
Re:If his phone can easily be hacked, (Score:5, Insightful)
Of course, the Russians have hacked it, at least its secure from everyone but them.
Re: (Score:3)
Re:If his phone can easily be hacked, (Score:5, Insightful)
There's still a problem with GPS tracking and remote activation of microphone and camera.
Re: (Score:2)
Given that he did multi million deals as a CEO pretty sure his phone is more secure than any govt phone Private sector does security beter than the govt
Re: (Score:2)
Let's do an investigation and be completely secure.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
and too valuable as a potential blackmail asset
Given everything that happened during the leadup to the election, just what could one possibly blackmail Trump with which would cause outcry among his supporters?
Process already in place for fake Trump tweets (Score:4, Interesting)
I think the problem for any potential enemies is that there seems to already be a process for dealing with Mr. Trumps bizarre proclamations on Twitter - the actual administration official responsible for the portfolio provides what is the correct information.
This has happened at least a couple of times with the most recent one being Mr. Trump announcing a One State Solution for Israel - the UN ambassador just said that the US policy on the issue hasn't changed and the Two State Solution is the preferred approach.
Other than his base, I think the rest of the world treats Mr. Trump's tweets the same way they would when read something strange and inexplicable that has gone viral from an eccentric old man that's gone viral.
Re: (Score:3)
Other than his base, I think the rest of the world treats Mr. Trump's tweets the same way they would when read something strange and inexplicable that has gone viral from an eccentric old man that's gone viral.
My problem is that I subscribe to a philosophy that basically says
If I see something wrong on the surface that is obvious to fix, then what am I missing underneath that I can't see?
This sort of thinking assists me in fault finding and problem solving in my job. But applying it to the current administration is making me shake in my boots.
Re: (Score:2)
It's Trump's entire political platform. Idiots get frustrated because they see obvious solutions to things and then hear politicians saying "it's complicated, and that won't work". Obviously they never study history so they don't realize that the obvious solutions have been tried many times already, for example protectionism in the 1930s.
Populists like Trump promise to implement these obvious solutions. When pesky things like the Constitution get in the way of common sense they just blame the people upholdi
Re: (Score:2)
At least now if he tweets something really embarrassing he can always claim it's FAKE and his account has been hacked.
Re:Process already in place for fake Trump tweets (Score:4, Funny)
Unless that official is Kellyanne Conway, in which case, she provides information which sounds correct and then Trump says, "no really we're going the batshit crazy route on this one, ignore her."
Easily detected (Score:5, Funny)
Just watch his twitter feed. If he begins making sane, rational tweets you'll know it was hacked.
Re: (Score:3)
Just watch his twitter feed. If he begins making sane, rational tweets you'll know it was hacked.
His tweets are made both by him and his staffers. There was some analysis last year that shows a split between Android and iOS devices as well as the times of day the tweets were made. Basically he makes the un-hinged ones while his staffers make the rational ones. See things like http://varianceexplained.org/r... [varianceexplained.org]
Re: (Score:3)
I'm really looking forward to the "Hall of Tweets" exhibit at the future Donald J. Trump Presidential Library and Casino, where all of his top tweets are presented in golds on the walls (which are also gold).
"I have never seen a thin person drinking Diet Coke."
"Fidel Castro is dead!"
Be careful what you ask for.... (Score:5, Insightful)
As democracy is perfected, the office of the president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people.
On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House
will be occupied by a downright fool and a complete narcissistic moron.
~H.L. Mencken
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Trump got in via the electoral college.
With the most votes ever...
The real question... (Score:2)
Why in the heck is a supposed billionaire still using a Galaxy S3? At least tell us that it's been unlocked and it running Cyanogenmod or something...
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Oh, it's unlocked and running custom firmware allright
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe he just, I dunno, likes it?
https://xkcd.com/1782/ [xkcd.com]
Don't bug me (Score:2, Funny)
The Russians and the Chinese are arguing with each other about the hours they get to listen in but the malware is making the phone unreliable so they'll have to sort that out first with the Iranians.
Then hack it. (Score:2)
Look, if you want to show a buffoon that something is true, you have to actually do it. So, please, somebody brick his phone, to spite him.
An S3? (Score:2)
He's using a Samsung S3? Why does this sound like bullshit? Maybe an S4 or S5 but a phone that old? Nah. I don't believe it. The man has the best of everything and he's using an ancient phone. No way.
Re: (Score:3)
Where are you all now? (Score:3)
Silence?
There's been so much partisan political bullshit in this place pretending to be about online security but really nothing of the sort.
The Enemy Within (Score:5, Funny)
For decades, the Republicans have been warning us that there was a political party embedded with Freedom-hating people who would gladly sell us out to Russia.
Seems like they knew what they were talking about.
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:The Enemy Within (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
It will be really easy to tell when Trumps phone is being hijacked, the messages will be coherent. Also, is Trump on some kind of medication that the American people should be made aware of?
Boy, that's no shit! To both statements.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:too late (Score:5, Insightful)
after 8 years of Obama we have more racial tension than ever before
No, we don't. All of that racial tension you're seeing was already there. What happened was that having a black president encouraged black Americans to speak up about the ways in which they're systematically oppressed, which means that you are now more aware of the existing racial tension.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
And then when the president leaves the meeting, you REALLY think he doesn't talk about the meeting within earshot of his phone?
Really? I think being a fly on the wall even just where the phone was allowed to go would be plenty interesting.
Re: (Score:3)
I love that the President uses an unsecured phone. He will care about the privacy of all us normal folks using unsecured phones and rein in the NSA. At least hes not allowing the washington apparatus to put him inside a bubble and neuter him like they did to Obama
Re:Just another mindless attack (Score:5, Informative)
Exactly and as it has been pointed out in the past. Top secret meetings have phones barred from entering rooms. I doubt he can get around that no matter how much of an asshole he is.. Hes not Stupid.
Look at what happened in Mar-a-lago with the North Korean issue and the lackadaisical handling of documents in public. If they think that is reasonable then I don't put anything past this administration.
Re:Just another mindless attack (Score:5, Informative)
Read it and weep.
https://www.washingtonpost.com... [washingtonpost.com]
Re:Just another mindless attack (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Just another mindless attack (Score:4, Informative)
Because it's impossible that he could have an aide tweeting on his behalf.
It's well known and obvious that aides tweet for Tump. Because aides use an iOS device and Trump uses and Android device. That doesn't change the issue.
Re: (Score:3)
And you're reasonably confident he never discusses anything of a sensitive nature outside that room ? It's trivial to remotely enable the mic and record.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Just another mindless attack (Score:5, Informative)
What they forget is no one cares what phone Trump uses to tweet from. As long as he has a second phone to keep the classified stuff secure, who cares if he also keeps his personal phone? Not even the Democrats really care: this is just yet another tactic to try and smear a very popular president.
Wouldn't you want to know if his personal phone was compromised and he was carrying it around all over the place?
At the very least it acts as a big red target painted on his back where ever he goes. At the other end of the spectrum the microphone and camera record and pass on everything it sees and hears.
This is security 101 and not political. That is Trump we are talking about makes it very easy to slip into an argument of "He's a doofus. No, you're just butthurt".
Re: Just another mindless attack (Score:4, Informative)
OMG! Then we'd know where he is every minute of the day! (You do know the President's daily schedule is public record, right?)
OMG the presidents schedule is public. But what happens when there is a security issue and the president is whisked away to a secure location. Do you really think that the schedule is publicized.
Or how about the use of Marine one to transport the president:
As a security measure, Marine One always flies in a group of as many as five identical helicopters. One helicopter carries the President, while the others serve as decoys.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
So do you want that security measure invalidated?
Re: (Score:3)
And within 30 seconds of reading your post, I came up with the idea of storing recordings on a phone, and then forwarding them later when the signal isn't blocked.
Except that I didn't actually come up with that idea, it's how many real world apps work (and how much eavesdropping malware works).
Re: Just another mindless attack (Score:4, Informative)
But if they are whoever tasked at keeping the situation secure should be fired.
Nobody was fired after this:
https://www.washingtonpost.com... [washingtonpost.com]
The president gets to make the rules - everyone else just gets to make suggestions. So if Trump wants to overrule someone who tells him to not bring his android phone into a SCIF, he can. And the Mar-a-Lago example indicates that he might be willing to do exactly that.
Re: (Score:3)
Re:Just another mindless attack (Score:5, Informative)
I'm sure obama never had a vulnerable phone. As every time a phone is released there are GROUPS of hackers that try to break it as fast as humanly possible. Mind you it never takes more than a few days
Well, at least the NSA damn well tried to give him a secure phone, and Obama cooperated with them. See the constant stream of news items on this subject during his presidency. You can always insist that it is not secure enough, no matter what was done. There is even a tiny chance that you are right, and that the hackers were smarter than the NSA. Your claim that it `never takes more than a few days' is just unfounded speculation, though. (To avoid using a stronger term.)
In any case, surely you're not going to argue that this is equivalent with a president who refuses to give up his civilian phone that is known to be insecure?
Re: (Score:2)
We all know how well programmers do now a days. I personally dont believe anything that connects to anything else is secure. There is always an exploit. Somebody just has to find it.
We have to agree to disagree then. Not every communication system is hackable within reasonable time. Even industrial products can be robust enough (e.g. bank communication), and if the NSA considers something secure enough for presidential use it must be pretty damn robust.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
The resistance movement is based on empirical and historical evidence that trump is a demagogue. Trump is an illiterate person
Apparently the resistance movement is based on ignorance and stupidity.
The is the duty we have towards history
Does this egoistic hyperbole work with your friends? It's not really winning me over, sorry.
Re: (Score:3)
I know I'll get modded down for being honest here, but I don't care.
Nah, if you get modded down it'll be for the rant in the second half of your post.
The first half of your post was good and informative, and if you added a link to support the info, it would have been a good solid post.
Also, your sig is inflammatory, which (shouldn't but) can cause people to moderate differently.
Re:He can just wipe it with a towel (Score:4, Insightful)
Along these lines, I think that Trump should be investigated over this at least nine times.
Re:It Just (Score:4, Insightful)
It DOES matter. A hacked phone allows the hacker to access everything in the phone, like the camera, the microphone, the GPS. Trump is known to be using an out of date [lawfareblog.com], hackable phone [wired.com] for his Twitter nonesense. Nevermind that Twitter-time should be over... you won, damn-it, now get on with doing the job instead of bitching about Hillary, who likely has already gotten rip-roaring drunk, yelled, screamed, ranted, fallen down, puked all over Bill and herself, slept it off for about a week, and moved on. Trump's still chasing invisible enemies with his Tweet phone. He needs to get down to the incredibly boring, tedious business of keeping the machinery of the country running smoothly and reliably. Instead, he's Tweeting on an old Android phone like he's still running for office, signing orders as vague as campaign slogans, and people charged with getting the job done don't know what the fuck. And all the time, Putin's listening and watching through his unsecure Tweet phone? Four years of this shit! Pray to Christ he doesn't start a war just so he can blame someone and throw all the mean people calling him names into camps!
Re: (Score:2)
"It DOES matter. A hacked phone allows the hacker to access everything in the phone, like the camera, the microphone, the GPS. "
Who cares with a president who has National Security meetings on his Dinner table in public at his Resort, being filmed and people taping secret documents with their phones.
Re: I got a probe for ya.... (Score:2, Insightful)
That's only twitter you know. His tweets are not a state secret. That doesn't mean he uses that phone for government communication. I am not a fan of Trump but this is plain ridiculous.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Here is the thing you don't get. Phones can be compromised, and they have microphones and have a camera.
He could be using a secure phone for some important conversation where the android phone is just sitting on the table, but that android phone could be recording the whole thing and uploading it to some server.
Re: (Score:3)
" The secure phone isn't even capable of communicating with Twitter. "
So his private phone is like a private email server?
Re: I got a probe for ya.... (Score:5, Insightful)
So, according to his own words, he should be locked up in prison.
Re: (Score:3)
How much "Top Secret" information have you seen on twitter? Why do you people try to make yourself look like morons.
If you think that posting "Top Secret" information on twitter is the only security risk of a private phone, you are the moron.
It's the other way around doofus (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
A bunch of wealthy and powerful men decided the country was going to hate Hilary Clinton and it did. We all did exactly as planned. My God, we're a bunch of shleps...
Perhaps the more accurate phrase you're looking for is sheeple [wikipedia.org].
(Noting that things don't often turn out well for the sheep...)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Story after story on globalists giving our jobs to India and H1Bs, finally we have a President who cares and you're all sour grapes.
He cares by using a Samsung Galaxy phone not vetted by U.S. services? You know what "Samsung" is, right?
Why aren't you giving nationalism a chance? Because the snarky jews on TV convinced you someone is Hitler?
The snarky jews could not care less about what happens to muslims. Take a look how Israel treats Palestinians. No, he isn't Hitler. Just like Hitler, with the "Jewish World Conspiracy" replaced by a Muslimic one, painting members of a religion with an overarching brush in colors of prejudice with only a homeopathic connection to facts.
Take a step back and think about yourself for a change - you're going to be better off. More jobs, lower taxes, not competing with Xi and Pajeet.
Have you considered applying for the job of propaganda minister wit
Re: (Score:2)
Trump just had a great meeting w/ Netanyahu, and you think that someone who makes snide remarks against Jews would be his propaganda minister? How does that work, when Trump is proud of his Jewish support, and Jared Kushner is about as loved by him as by Netanyahu?
Re: (Score:2)
"You ain't gonna get rid of him so easily. "
Lee Harvey could quite easily.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
He continued using that iPhone though, and got his new Android Phone from the Secret Service after he got sworn in.
However, on the main story, why is the Congressman more concerned about Trump's phone than the fact that bureaucrats in the Intelligence Agencies had been leaking Trump's calls to Mexico and Australia? There should be a campaign to purge that stuff
Re: (Score:2)
Twitter isn't exactly the hallmark of classified information storage. Obama, Hillary etc had an "insecure" phone as well, besides the one they got given.
Re: (Score:2)
Thats like saying Christianity needs to be made illegal as its a communist religion -"From each according to his ability to each according to his need"
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
For the record, those are Trump's actual words from his mouth, describing how cyber security is difficult or impossible. And then he uses a phone known to be insecure.
What he meant to say was "maybe it wasn't Russia", but he just keeps talking, and conveyed an entirely different message.
Re: (Score:2)
If only there were a way through official channels to confirm which device he uses, and if it has been secured, or is still vulnerable...
Oh, that's what this is.
Re: (Score:3)
Re:Oh No we can't have this! (Score:5, Informative)
Obviously Hillary can NOT run a private email server without a lot of negative publicity and essentially costing her the election. But oh, SHE did it, so anyone else who does it shouldn't have the same negative publicity?
You're fucking stupid.