Three reasons why Obama's BlackBerry is a national security THREAT
By jheary on Mon, 01/19/09 - 4:07pm.
To explain what I mean we need to go way back to 2006 (in fact 2004 really) and take a look at the legal case of United States vs. John Tomero (allegedly part of the Genovese Crime Family). In that case the district court approved the use of a "roving bug" that allowed authorities to turn a cell phone into a microphone without the user knowing. The case memorandum had this to say:
The government applied for a "roving bug," that is, the interception of Ardito's conversations at locations that were "not practical" to specify, as authorized by 18 U.S.C. § 2518(11)(a). Judge Jones granted the application, authorizing continued interception at the four restaurants and the installation of a listening device in Ardito's cellular telephone. The device functioned whether the phone was powered on or off, intercepting conversations within its range wherever it happened to be. In a renewal application dated February 6, 2004, the government sought, and Judge Jones in due course granted, authority to install a roving bug in Peluso's cellular telephone. This order was renewed several times throughout 2004
Can you image if hackers took this kind of control over Obama’s BlackBerry device! Every briefing he has, anywhere, could be recorded remotely. I can’t think of a more serious breach of security can you?
I hope that the arguments and facts that I’ve laid out for you in this article have convinced you that there is no way we can let Obama keep his BlackBerry. If you still think he should have one I’d really like to hear your arguments for it. Please post them! If you have other reasons why you think Obama shouldn’t have a BlackBerry please post those for discussion as well.
For more discussion on this topic check out the NW chat here: http://www.networkworld.com/chat/archive/2009/011609-bloggers-chat-on-ob... Mathew's blog here http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/37484
and Dan Tynan's comments here http://blogs.computerworld.com/obama_technology_0
You can also find related articles on Computer World here http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&...
The opinions and information presented here are my personal views and not those of my employer.
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Jamey Heary, CCIE No. 7680, is the author of the Cisco NAC Appliance: Enforcing Host Security with Clean Access book by Cisco Press. Jamey is a seasoned security technologist with over 15 years in the IT field with 10 years focused on IT security. His areas of expertise include network and host security design and implementation, security regulatory compliance, and routing and switching. His other certifications include CISSP, CCSP, and Microsoft MCSE. He is also a Certified HIPAA Security Professional. Jamey is currently a Security Consulting Systems Engineer with Cisco, though the opinions expressed here are his own. Jamey is a member of Network World's Cisco Subnet blog community.
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He won't keep it
No way he gets to keep it. If he does, it will take about 3 months and someone will post some private communique of his and that will be the end of it.
They're are secure (non-RIM)
They're are secure (non-RIM) gov issue mobile device that BO may choose from.
Most other gvmt managers use them
One: grammatical error in first sentence.
Two: Most all of the current Federal and State management and decision making managers already use the government issued devices. The security horse is already out of the barn. The lower rank and file is where true information and details are captured and created long before it gets to the presidential level.
"Grammatical error in first
"Grammatical error in first sentence"? The whole piece is riddled with spelling and grammar errors. The problem with this is that, right or wrong, it detracts from the message you're trying to convey (which I happen to agree with in this case, by the way).
grammer
Sorry guys I pounded this out in record time to meet some deadlines. Not an excuse but just letting you know. I just fixed several errors. If you find others please email them to me and I'll update it.
Thanks,
Jamey
Corrections
"In that the case the district" - remove 'the'
"service is to public to be used" - change to 'too'
"compromised as well But then the whitepaper" - add comma, lowercase 'b'
"If your not, read on anyways" - should be "you're"
"were fixed by RIM where talked about" - change to 'were'
Please get real
This article is another example of the FUD the security market do not need anymore.
If there are more secure applications available to the POTUS, they should absolutely be made available to many others (if not the public). Critical infrastructure comes to mind as a prime user for such secured apps (BTW if the critical infrastructure is destroyed, who cares about the POTUS? i.e. may be he is not the most powerfull/important person on the planet).
Also if the government is willing to spend large amount of money developping secured apps (and OS?) from the ground up, maybe they should (if I were a US citizen, this "should" would become a "must") fund and mandate that critical apps be written with security built in from the beginning.
Last but not least, the POTUS has been democratically elected and his position is such that if he wants to keep his BB he can. Everyone will simply have to trust him that nothing of "value" happens through this BB which is exactly what has to be done in the "normal" world: trust your users. (If you can't trust the POTUS who can you trust?)
Can't tell
I can't tell if you are agreeing or disagreeing with the article so I will only comment on the trust your users/president point.
Of course we have to trust our president, that is why he got elected. However, letting our President do something that will potentially impact our national security is quite another. For example, the president cannot dismiss his secret service agents if he doesn't want them around, he cannot use AIM as a communication mechanism between him and his top national security advisors, he's not allowed to post pictures of our top secret agents on facebook. My point is (if you haven't figured it out yet) is that there are lots of restrictions placed on the president already. The blackberry is just the latest one that needs to be figured out.
Government blackberry use...
Did the author look up gov regulations for BB use? Mandatory encryption, use of gov controlled BES, camera and bluetooth disabled, antivirus required, no 3rd party app. installation, etc.? So, the pres. wouldn't be able to install AccuTracking anyway. And the Feds already ban any sensitive or personal info from any mobile device. So that leaves the possibility of a hostile agent getting a hold of the BB and planting a bug in it... well, could happen I guess - or in his shoe, or his tie tack, or...
BO's Blackberry Use
He will use his Blackberry for his very extensive communication with non government entities for non government purposes. This does not preclude the use of proper channels for governmental communications. I see no problem here.