Obama wants to Keep his BlackBerry. Its a security risk. Potential Solutions?

[lyime]

I have been following the story about how our next president wants to keep his Blackberry. He wants to remain in contact with people outside the 10-12 people surrounding him daily.

Some Issues "A president's e-mail may be subject to public records laws and can be subpoenaed by Congress and the courts. It may also be a security risk for him to carry a traceable cell phone."

I think one of the main things is definitely security risk. Rest of the issues can be dealt by lawyers ;)

I am really interested in hearing opinions about the security implications of owning a cellphone and blackberry in specific. Most likely there would be additional effort/technology that would be needed to make his phone/PDA untraceable. This definitely makes Secret services job much much harder. His security can be compromised quite easily by skilled hackers. At the same time I think in todays age the President should be well equipped with communication devices that enable him to do his job better. What do you think?

[cperciva]

You don't want to be carrying a constant-frequency radio beacon in a non-shielded environment if you're going to have sensitive information conveyed via vibrations (i.e., if you're the president and you're going to be talking to people). Think Doppler effect. The NSA will explain this to Obama; and while he might still consult his blackberry from time to time, it won't be present during sensitive meetings (and when you get right down to it, pretty much every non-public meeting at which the president is present qualifies as "sensitive").

[bayareaguy → cperciva]

If so then this sounds like a good opportunity for blackberry to sell a secure spread-spectrum device to the government and/or military that would work on restricted frequencies. Surely Obama isn't the only political figure with a blackberry whose conversations need to be kept secure.

[cperciva → bayareaguy]

Spread spectrum doesn't help (much). Compare the signals observed on opposite sides of an electromagnetic broadcast source, and you can measure how fast it is moving without needing to know what frequency it is trying to emit.

[pedalpete]

I didn't realize the issue was that his e-mails HAD to be public, but I did find it strange that the blackberry encryption would seperate it from the pack to such a high degree that Obama is not permitted to have a blackberry. Can he have a Windows Mobile, or iPhone? I assume so.

So, why not just have a blackberry but not use blackberry's e-mail address and pass it through a regular email address anyway?

I'm clearly not understanding the problem. But if he gets to keep his blackberry, what a PR opportunity for Blackberry. The device the worlds most important CEO couldn't live without.

[tylermenezes]

Just ask the company who makes them to come up with something. You really think they'll be willing to pass up the "official phone of the President of the United States" angle?

[pclark]

bodyguard PA.