Problem: China and Russia are eavesdropping on Trumps’s private calls. China specifically wants to know who influences Trumps so they can influence the influencers. This is standard practice for many countries and not just China.
Mr. Trump’s use of his iPhones was detailed by several current and former officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity so they could discuss classified intelligence and sensitive security arrangements. The officials said they were doing so not to undermine Mr. Trump, but out of frustration with what they considered the president’s casual approach to electronic security.
Steps quoted in article:
- Trump has two official iPhones that have been modified, and a third in stock form. The official phones he cannot store contacts, but on his personal one he can.
- Obama’s iPhone could not make calls or texts, and could only receive emails from a specific address. No camera or mic, could not download apps. No way to collect or store messages
- Trump has 2 phones, one for Twitter and apps, the other for calls
- Trump rarely digs into intelligence of military or covert operations, so he does not know the details
- Trump does not use email, so phishing attacks limited
- texting disabled on both official phones
- Twitter and apps phone has no data, can only be connected over wifi, almost always on a secure network
- Secret Service wants him to swap out his official phones every 30 days, but can’t transfer over data from old phones due to possible malware, so he does not do it