
Trump expresses doubts about security of all computers - em3rgent0rdr
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-says-he-doesnt-trust-computers-as-he-rings-in-2017/2016/12/31/705af138-cfd5-11e6-85cd-e66532e35a44_story.html
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davidwihl
Robert Morris Sr said basically the same thing: "The three golden rules to
ensure computer security are: do not own a computer; do not power it on; and
do not use it."

~~~
qbrass
Even those rules don't work anymore.

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djaychela
I think there's an element of truth to some of what he's said, but it's like a
stopped clock telling the right time rather than a deep insight. I can't
imagine that having messages couriered everywhere by hand will be a practical
way for the US government to function unless this is part of his plan to get
people back to work?

~~~
wfunction
> it's like a stopped clock telling the right time rather than a deep insight

That's a really good analogy (I mean in general, not specifically referring to
this situation)! I'm going to start using it.

~~~
grzm
First time coming across it?
[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/a_stopped_clock_is_right_twic...](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/a_stopped_clock_is_right_twice_a_day)

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divbit
>Trump rarely uses email or computers, despite his frequent tweeting..

If 2016 taught us anything, this is a reasonable infosec strategy - Although I
assume, when he becomes President there is some high powered govt. agency that
can do it securely if he uses whatever protocols they suggest.

~~~
yabatopia
I don't know if using Twitter on a smartphone is a reasonable infosec
strategy. More than a few Twitter accounts have been hacked or taken over with
social engineering. And he's using a Samsung Android smartphone, so you don't
know how up-to-date he is with security patches.

But then again, according to Trump himself: “I know a lot about hacking." And
he also knows “things that other people don’t know. And so they cannot be sure
of the situation.” The man could be a brilliant hacker for all I know.

~~~
mirimir
> The man could be a brilliant hacker for all I know.

Or he's been briefed by brilliant hackers.

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danso
I don't particularly mind if Trump wants to stay off of email. What bothers me
is that a lifetime of isolation against computers makes him almost entirely
incapabale of understanding or prioritizing information technology, and I
don't just mean things like Obama's fluff campaign for learn to code.

This isn't a fault particular to Trump, of course. Anyone who isn't using
technology will likely have just a facile understanding of its full impact on
life today...kind of like how it's nearly impossible to understand Twitter's
appeal (or at least, differentiate it from other forms of publishing, such as
blogging or mass email) without using it.

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aceperry
Trump lives among the 1% where they don't have to interact with computers to
get around in society. He has aides and servants to conduct much of the
routine paperwork and other things that ordinary people need to do to function
with government and business. That includes email for communications. It
doesn't surprise me that in his world, he uses phone calls and personal
meetings to conduct most of his face to face business. It is definitely
isolating and he lives very differently than most other people. Interestingly,
I see the same situation with homeless or poor people who aren't as plugged in
with everyone else.

~~~
em3rgent0rdr
Hillary is also computer illiterate.

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origami777
Is it just me, or is it damn near impossible to not make fun of everything
Trump does or says. Every time I see an article about him I feel like he's a
real life Forest Gump. Hes just doing whatever, and no matter how dumb or
idiotic it seems, it just works out for him.

~~~
gaius
Well, consider that that is entirely artificially created by a media
establishment that ridiculed him relentlessly but he still ended up winning.
It's actually nothing to do with him at all; it's that the media are
presenting a view that is out of sync with reality.

~~~
origami777
I get the same feeling when I see him talk at his rallies.

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jwatte
I mean, he is not wrong about every computer being potentially vulnerable...
Then again, so is a commercial courier.

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jonthepirate
He will publicly cast doubt on things that are contrary to his own opinions.
As an example, he was the leader of the birther movement claiming Obama was
not born in the USA. Tip of the iceberg.

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josh_fyi
Hackers of various sorts have strong interest in hacking the Trump
Organization to get dirt on him. Knowing how IT in that sort of medium-size
sales-oriented low-tech business works, chances are they have very weak
security procedures on their financial and other data. I wouldn't be surprised
if hackers are having a field day.

~~~
jrapdx3
Could be, but if that were true I would expect we would have seen a lot of
publicity about such hacked info. Surely there's been no shortage of interest
in finding "dirt" on Trump, his businesses, family, etc. The nasty political
situation would be a great incentive for it. The absence of such data suggests
decent security is in place.

That makes sense insofar as Trump runs large operations that has to require
considerable computing resources to run them. He probably has top-notch people
overseeing the data end of management and that would include maintaining
security

~~~
gaius
_Surely there 's been no shortage of interest in finding "dirt" on Trump_

They did - how do you think that 2005 video mysteriously surfaced at just the
right time to do the most damage?

It only didn't work because people recognized it for the obvious tactic it
was.

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MaysonL
Why do you think the media focused so strongly on Clinton's email "scandal"
while avoiding covering all the Trump scandals?

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whatshisface
"Earlier in the day, Trump ditched his press pool, traveling to play golf at
one of his clubs without a pool of journalists on hand to ensure the public
has knowledge of his whereabouts."

It's a little bit off-topic, but I can't help but feel like this sentence
contradicts itself.

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jpatokal
It's meant to be parsed as "traveling to play golf (without a pool... to
ensure the public)", not "traveling to play golf (without pool...) to ensure
the public.

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xkcd-sucks
Could this become a big make-work program for infosec or for paper-and-pen
bureaucrats?

~~~
jvandonsel
Or for the manila envelope cartel.

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thought_alarm
America has become ridiculous.

The headline is absurd. The article is absurd. Everything about this is
absurd.

~~~
facepalm
How so? The absurd thing is that it is news - it should just be common sense
that computers are not secure. It shouldn't take a statement by the future US
president to convey that message.

Have you ever looked at a computer owned by one of your relatives (someone who
is not a computer expert)?

~~~
cimi_
I've not seen any numbers, but I don't think it's far fetched to say that the
US probably has ridiculously large budgets for cyber security, military
research in computing, cryptography etc. We're not talking about uncle Jim-
Bob's computer here.

Having the person that will lead all of that say he'd rather send couriers
with hand written notes is horrifying for me. As a computer scientist I feel
that this is yet another attack on science and reason. I wonder how you don't
feel the same?

~~~
gaius
_Having the person that will lead all of that say he 'd rather send couriers
with hand written notes is horrifying for me_

Consider
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Challenge_2002](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Challenge_2002)

    
    
        Van Riper used motorcycle messengers to transmit orders to front-line troops and World-War-II-style 
        light signals to launch airplanes without radio communications
    

Using these tactics - in an exercise only of course - the "enemy" defeated the
US military easily.

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somecallitblues
He rarely uses email. Fuck me. And this guy is a US president. In 2017. God
bless America.

~~~
fsloth
Without any political connotation, of just email as a communications platform:
Email incurs costs of mental kind on the end user. I see nothing bad of not
using it - if one can afford not to. For example, Donald Knuth seldom uses
email as well. [http://www-cs-
faculty.stanford.edu/~uno/email.html](http://www-cs-
faculty.stanford.edu/~uno/email.html)

I'm not sure if it's such a great strategy for a future president, though
(especually as he seems to spend awfull lot of time on twitter).

