Being elected president of the United States of America has its privileges and its burdens: among these we include that of immediately receiving an encrypted hacker-proof smartphone to manage and guard some of the most sensitive data on earth, and consequently the duty of use it.
Il Defense Information Services Agency, or DISA, began to equip the incumbent president with a modified model of Boeing Black to manage the top secret data following the fulfillment of the Mobility Classified Capability program. The device, an Android-based dual-sim-card phone that can switch between civil networks and classified networks, including WCDMA, GSM, LTE, 3G, is in fact a VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure): therefore little more than an interface of an external virtual portal that physically houses and guards the data. Nevertheless its most peculiar characteristic is that of self-destruction if subjected to any kind of solicitation.
"Any attempt to disassemble or violate the components of the device would trigger a system designed to erase the data and software contained within the device, rendering it unusable," said the Federal Communications Commission, which released all known and disclosable specifications on the presidential smartphone .
Il Boeing Black Presidential, achieved by a collaboration between the NSA, DISA, Boeing and other partners, was handed over to former President Barack Obama in November of the 2014, and now by the 20 January to the newly elected Donald Trump. However, as reported by the Associated Press, the Tycoon would not yet be using it however, or would not be using solely that. In fact, President Trump would still be in possession of his very common and unencrypted Samsung Galaxy running Android. This incautious choice is worrying not a little about the security experts who fear - all the more so after the recent hacker attacks that have shaken American public opinion - that any 'lone wolf' could violate such a widespread consumer device, coming into possession of e-mail, sensitive data, or worse still intercepting the conversations of what until proven otherwise is the most influential man on the planet.
(photo: White House)
