
How Obama's BlackBerry got secured - trauco
http://electrospaces.blogspot.com/2013/04/how-obamas-blackberry-got-secured.html
======
rbanffy
[http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1JZg_2laiQo/UWjEB7NNODI/AAAAAAAAAL...](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1JZg_2laiQo/UWjEB7NNODI/AAAAAAAAALA/gU4-tSSuCfI/s320/obama_phone_20081201.jpg)
shows him using a Nokia E61 (or E62), actually.

[http://www.backbonemag.com/files/Images/novtek5.JPG](http://www.backbonemag.com/files/Images/novtek5.JPG)

------
spikels
That US presidents are willing to completely give up email to avoid the
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) seems pretty shady. I could see if they were
mob bosses running a criminal organization but "public servants" \- really?

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plausible_deniability](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plausible_deniability)

~~~
tptacek
Not one tech company in the world publishes all (or really, any) of the work
emails of their executives, and that's exactly what the records act does to
the President.

~~~
spikels
Access to presidential records is actually quite restricted including a 12
year delay in most cases[1]. I think the article is incorrect that a FOIA
request could force the president to produce an email.

And unlike tech execs and anyone else the president is not subject to search
warrants or subpoenas in many cases due to "executive privilege"[2].

The PRISM program, which captures a huge fraction of world email traffic, is
"the most prolific contributor to the President’s Daily Brief" according to
the NSA[3]. Reading other people's email on a regular basis probably makes you
cautious about your own email habits rather than being worried about FOIA
requests you can probably ignore.

Despite all of these protections our presidents still feel they have to take
the extraordinary step of not using email at all. Very shady.

[1] [http://www.archives.gov/about/laws/presidential-
records.html](http://www.archives.gov/about/laws/presidential-records.html)

[2]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_privilege](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_privilege)

[3] [http://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/us-
intelligence...](http://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/us-intelligence-
mining-data-from-nine-us-internet-companies-in-broad-secret-
program/2013/06/06/3a0c0da8-cebf-11e2-8845-d970ccb04497_story_1.html)

~~~
jbooth
I think the logic goes along the lines of "better safe than sorry". They can
make do fine without email, they have really smart people with good memories
that can make this all happen in non-record-producing conversations, so why
create the paper trail?

It doesn't even mean they're being shady, I mean they are, but 99% of the time
we're talking about routine conversation. What if you had a bunch of people
trying to do a hatchet job on you, ready to take any sentence out of context
and leak it?

------
derefr
> This would mean the White House Communications Agency has to carry such a
> secure base station wherever the president goes.

If they're already doing _that_ , the rest of this seems a bit silly. Why
bother with a cellular-modem connection at all, if you're just going to route
it (presumably using a 4G picocell) back out over IP? I can understand the
custom encryption, but you can do that just as effectively over wi-fi.

~~~
gcb0
because cellular data connection was written in the approved requirement.

------
gcb0
Incredible how the whole thing just shout inefficiency and huge price tags all
over the place.

What is wrong with securing the device with a VPN or something and then using
the same services that the entire government already use on desktops?

~~~
lukeschlather
You don't want to use the same VPN everyone else is using. You don't want to
take critical security updates, because you need to have CIA analysts do a
thorough source code audit of any software provided by untrusted parties. This
isn't tin foil hat stuff either - it's entirely likely that if the president
used off-the-shelf VPN software that a foreign government would get an
operative into Cisco or wherever and slip a backdoor in.

So either you convince Cisco that they need to fire any non-US nationals
involved in packaging/bugfixes/security and have everyone submit to security
screening, or you build your own.

~~~
jdiez17
I don't understand why so much weight is given to the difference between US
and non-US nationals. And in my experience, it's pretty common to see the US
assign a pretty high amount of trust by default to US citizens.

For example, a few months ago I visited a friend there, and I got to tour the
SpaceX factory. Since I'm foreign, he had to jump through some hoops and there
were parts of it the factory that were off-bounds for me.

I know there are very tight controls on space-related industries and I can
understand the no-pictures policy, but I don't know why it makes such a big
difference whether I was born elsewhere.

~~~
kefka
Because you are a foreigner. My government has done horrible things to many
people in many countries. They are afraid of blowback.

In all honesty, if you are an intellectual, go elsewhere than the US. We're
slowly turning technological backwater because we do not cater to smart people
who were born in (gasp) other countries.

As for me, I'm stuck here, due to family ties and money. I wish you the best,
wherever you go.

------
ck2
Basically they asked the NSA which knew how to tap the blackberrys and other
mobile devices of 35+ other world leaders.

------
kunai
Thank you so much Blackberry team. I was waiting this app. It is really great
user friendly and smooth.

~~~
dylz
Please post the following comment on the new BlackBerry Messenger Android APP.
Thank you so much black berry team

------
lignuist
Isn't it funny that Obama uses a Canadian phone?

~~~
Zoomla
I hope that they put a backdoor in it so that they can learn about European
secrets...

~~~
lignuist
And since the parts of todays phones are usually manufactured in China, the
Chinese officials should be informed very well too. Since the Russians seem
not to be a part of the chain, it seems to be obvious, why they need Snowden.
:)

~~~
solnyshok
seems that everybody has opportunity to plant datacollecting backdoor
somewhere along digital data road. Android/iOS/Windows, intercontinental data
cables, PC/phone manufacturer firmwares, asian chip foundries and harddrive
makers, wifi routers, cellular stations, USB flash producers, etc. Everything
from data storage to network equipment has some kind of arm-controller with
megabytes of RAM. enough for logging and calling home. Surprisingly, this
makes all major countries happy rather than disappointed.

------
alexbilbie
Some parts of the UK Government (principally the Foreign Office) use an OS
called Firecrest for their secure systems. As I understand it Firecrest is
built on a fork of Windows Vista

~~~
mattkirman
In this Foreign Office memo [1] from April 2006 "Firecrest is the FCO's IT
infrastructure; it sits on the desks of our staff around the world. Firecrest
is a globally-networked desktop system that provides users with a standard
suite of Microsoft office products including Outlook email, web browsing,
Access databases and Excel spreadsheets. Firecrest was developed in 1997 and
in 2003 the FCO completed the roll out of the current generation of the
system."

Whilst the timing is slightly out (Vista wasn't released to the public until
2007?) it may be possible that Microsoft provided them with a version forked
from a much earlier build.

However, the memo does go on to say that the Government were planning a third
generation of Firecrest due to be rolled out autumn 2006 with support from HP.
This might be the version that is forked from Vista?

[1]
[http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmselect/c...](http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmselect/cmpubacc/813/6011209.htm)

------
Syeo68
All this because he couldn't give up his blackberry. SPOILED!

------
hownottowrite
What, they didn't use WordPress?

~~~
alex_doom
They were too busy using Drupal.

