China and Russia are reportedly eavesdropping on Trump's phone calls

[midian182]

Why it matters: Once again, Donald Trump is reportedly ignoring security protocols when it comes to using his mobile phones. A new story claims the president has refused to stop using his iPhones to make calls, despite warnings that Chinese and Russian agents are listening to everything he says.

According to The New York Times, Trump has three iPhones. Two of these are secure and include NSA protections that limit their risk of being compromised, while the third is a standard iPhone “that is no different from hundreds of millions of iPhones in use around the world.”

Trump has been asked to give up his third iPhone but wants to keep it as “unlike his other two phones, he can store his contacts in it.” And while he’s encouraged to use the White House’s secure landline for conversations, he reportedly doesn’t want the calls going through the switchboard and logged for senior aides to see.

US intelligence agencies believe spies from China and Russia are eavesdropping on Trump’s calls—even those using the secure iPhones—by intercepting them as they travel through national and international cellphone networks.

Security flaws in Signaling System No. 7 (SS7)—a telephony signaling protocol that allows the world’s cellular carriers to route calls, texts, and other services to each other—have been exploited in the past to intercept text messages, listen in on phone calls, and track users’ locations.

Trump apparently doesn’t use email, and the ability to send texts is disabled on the secure phones, which lessens the risk of security breaches, but foreign agents listening in on his calls is a concern. China, which has already labeled the report "fake news" and suggested Trump switch to a Huawei phone, is reportedly trying to learn more about the president’s behavior so it can deescalate the trade war, while Russia’s operation isn’t as sophisticated because of his “affinity” for Vladimir Putin, according to a former aide.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/77093-china-russia-reportedly-eavesdropping-trump-phone-calls.html

 

[SirDigby]

When is the USA planning to move from analogue to digital signalling? The UK is planning to close the PSTN by 2025 (though more likely going to be about 2035).

 

[Squid Surprise]

Listening in on his phone calls is a waste of time... pretty much everything he says is for public consumption anyways... while I can't stand the man, I have to admit that he does a masterful job of manipulating people through the media - his phone calls almost certainly won't reveal anything he doesn't want revealed.

 

[iamcts]

Listening in on his phone calls is a waste of time... pretty much everything he says is for public consumption anyways... while I can't stand the man, I have to admit that he does a masterful job of manipulating people through the media - his phone calls almost certainly won't reveal anything he doesn't want revealed.

And if he does reveal something, he'll just tweet the exact opposite of what he said and call the other report fake news.

Repeat x 10,000 daily.

 

[kombu]

Listening in on his phone calls is a waste of time... pretty much everything he says is for public consumption anyways... while I can't stand the man, I have to admit that he does a masterful job of manipulating people through the media - his phone calls almost certainly won't reveal anything he doesn't want revealed.

And if he does reveal something, he'll just tweet the exact opposite of what he said and call the other report fake news.

Repeat x 10,000 daily.

Do you feel better now?

 

[Jeff Re]

So China admits they have a back door into Huawei phones...

 

[BabyFaceLee]

Lock. Him. Up.

 

[Uncle Al]

The risk is very real; especially when you consider the number of highly sensitive, non-political conversations he has in a week. Just joking about some of these issues could lead to disaster; just look at the number of off the cuff remarks made by past presidents with an open mic nearby the the trouble they stirred up ....

 

[Reachable]

Oh those nasty Russians and Chinese. They're listening to and hacking into everything they can possibly listen to and hack into.

But the United States -- they would never do anything like that. Despite having a 70 billion dollar spy agencies budget. They're virtuous and would never eavesdrop.

Don't be a fool. Everybody is hacking into everybody else. Not just U.S., Russia and China but every country with an intelligence establishment. It's all a huge waste of money, all based on senseless paranoia, but it's twisted into great propaganda as a way of controlling the public by fixating on 'enemies'.

 

[iamcts]

Do you feel better now?

I'm not sure what you mean by that. It's not like what I said was supposed to be cathartic.

 

[TomSEA]

I wouldn't be surprised if he's HOPING the Russians and Chinese are listening in to that one unsecure phone.

 

[p51d007]

Probably a lot more intelligent that listening to an Obama phone call. Oh wait, they didn't have to listen...they programmed his teleprompter for him.

 

[iamcts]

Probably a lot more intelligent that listening to an Obama phone call. Oh wait, they didn't have to listen...they programmed his teleprompter for him.

Look, having nuclear—my uncle was a great professor and scientist and engineer, Dr. John Trump at MIT; good genes, very good genes, OK, very smart, the Wharton School of Finance, very good, very smart—you know, if you’re a conservative Republican, if I were a liberal, if, like, OK, if I ran as a liberal Democrat, they would say I'm one of the smartest people anywhere in the world—it’s true!—but when you're a conservative Republican they try—oh, do they do a number—that’s why I always start off: Went to Wharton, was a good student, went there, went there, did this, built a fortune—you know I have to give my like credentials all the time, because we’re a little disadvantaged—but you look at the nuclear deal, the thing that really bothers me—it would have been so easy, and it’s not as important as these lives are (nuclear is powerful; my uncle explained that to me many, many years ago, the power and that was 35 years ago; he would explain the power of what's going to happen and he was right—who would have thought?), but when you look at what's going on with the four prisoners—now it used to be three, now it’s four—but when it was three and even now, I would have said it's all in the messenger; fellas, and it is fellas because, you know, they don't, they haven’t figured that the women are smarter right now than the men, so, you know, it’s gonna take them about another 150 years—but the Persians are great negotiators, the Iranians are great negotiators, so, and they, they just killed, they just killed us.

You mean to tell me this is intelligence?

 

[kombu]

I'm not sure what you mean by that. It's not like what I said was supposed to be cathartic.

Then I don't know why you said it. I mean it wasnt at all original.

 

[Capaill]

So he doesn't want his senior aides to have visibility of his calls but he's happy that every intelligence agency in the world is listening in. Hopefully the US ones are too.

 

[iamcts]

Then I don't know why you said it. I mean it wasnt at all original.

Obviously my number was wrong, but the point is still correct.

I'm not sure where you're going with this. It's like you're trying to attack me, but can't find the words to do so.

 

[mrjgriffin]

Theres nothing these guys can do to prevent them spying on his phone? really? I can block any type of connection I want on this computer, but apparently phones don't work that way, because they're garbage.

secondly, any president should be connected to a vpn on their phone.

third. iphones are supposed to be more secure than androids in theory? I guess that's out the window?

it's 2018, you can't block people from intercepting the signal on your phone? and you guys are the highest form of whatever the hell you are in this country? you can't prevent this? really?

if this is such a huge issue then we may as well give up now lol. I can't believe we seriously can't prevent this nonsense while using a smartphone compared to a landline.

 

[Evernessince]

Oh those nasty Russians and Chinese. They're listening to and hacking into everything they can possibly listen to and hack into.

But the United States -- they would never do anything like that. Despite having a 70 billion dollar spy agencies budget. They're virtuous and would never eavesdrop.

Don't be a fool. Everybody is hacking into everybody else. Not just U.S., Russia and China but every country with an intelligence establishment. It's all a huge waste of money, all based on senseless paranoia, but it's twisted into great propaganda as a way of controlling the public by fixating on 'enemies'.

1st, no one said the united states doesn't do it. 2nd, that has nothing to do with wanting to defend yourself against cyber espionage.

Senseless paranoia? You just admitted a sentence ago everyone is doing it. Now you think the #1 priority target isn't going to be hacked if they have a chance? Make up your mind.

Theres nothing these guys can do to prevent them spying on his phone? really? I can block any type of connection I want on this computer, but apparently phones don't work that way, because they're garbage.

secondly, any president should be connected to a vpn on their phone.

third. iphones are supposed to be more secure than androids in theory? I guess that's out the window?

it's 2018, you can't block people from intercepting the signal on your phone? and you guys are the highest form of whatever the hell you are in this country? you can't prevent this? really?

if this is such a huge issue then we may as well give up now lol. I can't believe we seriously can't prevent this nonsense while using a smartphone compared to a landline.

They gave him 2 secured phones that did have protections. He just didn't want to use them. You can't force the president to use secure devices as it's only a protocol and not a law.

 

[Reachable]

1st, no one said the united states doesn't do it. 2nd, that has nothing to do with wanting to defend yourself against cyber espionage.

What you're saying is true, but this information is released to the public for the very purpose of psychological manipulation to support an agenda. It's necessary to keep reminding people that the other guys aren't any worse than us, so that the public doesn't get up in arms.

Senseless paranoia? You just admitted a sentence ago everyone is doing it. Now you think the #1 priority target isn't going to be hacked if they have a chance? Make up your mind.

The basic motive behind most espionage is "We gotta do it because they're doing it." At it's core, it's senseless, because neither side would do it if they didn't think the other side was. There should be a better word than "paranoia".

 

[wiyosaya]

Probably a lot more intelligent that listening to an Obama phone call. Oh wait, they didn't have to listen...they programmed his teleprompter for him.

Look, having nuclear—my uncle was a great professor and scientist and engineer, Dr. John Trump at MIT; good genes, very good genes, OK, very smart, the Wharton School of Finance, very good, very smart—you know, if you’re a conservative Republican, if I were a liberal, if, like, OK, if I ran as a liberal Democrat, they would say I'm one of the smartest people anywhere in the world—it’s true!—but when you're a conservative Republican they try—oh, do they do a number—that’s why I always start off: Went to Wharton, was a good student, went there, went there, did this, built a fortune—you know I have to give my like credentials all the time, because we’re a little disadvantaged—but you look at the nuclear deal, the thing that really bothers me—it would have been so easy, and it’s not as important as these lives are (nuclear is powerful; my uncle explained that to me many, many years ago, the power and that was 35 years ago; he would explain the power of what's going to happen and he was right—who would have thought?), but when you look at what's going on with the four prisoners—now it used to be three, now it’s four—but when it was three and even now, I would have said it's all in the messenger; fellas, and it is fellas because, you know, they don't, they haven’t figured that the women are smarter right now than the men, so, you know, it’s gonna take them about another 150 years—but the Persians are great negotiators, the Iranians are great negotiators, so, and they, they just killed, they just killed us.

You mean to tell me this is intelligence?

If this is normal for Trump, he does not need a secure phone. I don't listen to him, so I really do not know.

However it is interesting that this instance is true - not that I am at all surprised by its truth. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/donald-trump-sentence/

 

[Nero7]

What Techspot leaves out is when you go to the article you can see a twitter reply from him about it being fake news.

 

[Nobina]

Just a daily Russian and Chinese hacking story.

 

[Evernessince]

What you're saying is true, but this information is released to the public for the very purpose of psychological manipulation to support an agenda. It's necessary to keep reminding people that the other guys aren't any worse than us, so that the public doesn't get up in arms.


The basic motive behind most espionage is "We gotta do it because they're doing it." At it's core, it's senseless, because neither side would do it if they didn't think the other side was. There should be a better word than "paranoia".

Ah, that makes a lot more sense now that you explain it. Yeah, paranoia made it seem like something else.

 

[wiyosaya]

What Techspot leaves out is when you go to the article you can see a twitter reply from him about it being fake news.

Everything that does not suit Trump's agenda is fake news. The meme is wearing thin...

 

[Nero7]

Everything that does not suit Trump's agenda is fake news. The meme is wearing thin...

The article does reek of anti-Trump propaganda.