Prez gets to keep his blackberry...fi u technical peeps

[evanovitch]

is it really safe fi him fi do dat?....i can see peeps who have started now to mek it dem life's work to hack it?....

[RichD]

Re: Prez gets to keep his blackberry...fi u technical peeps

maybe dem jus a mek him keep it as a placebo

dont think he would be berryin sensitive info

[evanovitch]

Re: Prez gets to keep his blackberry...fi u technical peeps


President Barack Obama will have a beloved BlackBerry — and maybe a second, more secure smartphone-like device — with him in the White House.

The president has been adamant about continuing to use a BlackBerry, a smartphone with Internet and e-mail access, despite concerns that are likely making the National Security Agency as nervous as the Secret Service on Inauguration Day when Obama left his presidential limo twice to walk and wave to crowds along Pennsylvania Avenue.

The Atlantic magazine, which first reported the story, said that whatever model of customized BlackBerry — or BlackBerry look-alike — Obama uses, will be heavily encrypted to deter information from winding up in the hands of hackers or others who would want to see harm come to him or to the United States.

One feature the device likely will not have is GPS to help locate its important user’s whereabouts.

“I worked for the Secret Service back in the 1980s, and we did not allow the protectees to wear pagers because the agents were afraid the pagers could act as location beacons,” said John Pescatore, an Internet security specialist for Gartner Research who also worked with the NSA.

“Cell phones have the same issue, and something with GPS inside is even a bigger issue. If the device is actually sending out GPS coordinates that would be a definite no-no.”

'Flow of everyday life'
Obama is well known for his BlackBerry addiction, something millions of Americans can identify with. The device, with several models available, is the best-selling smartphone in the United States, heavily favored by corporate culture for its robust features and physical QWERTY keyboards that are considered superior for mobile e-mail.

Obama views the connection to the outside world as vital, seeing it as a tool to help him “stay in touch with the flow of everyday life,” he said on NBC’s “Today” show recently.

Initially, it seemed, the president was going to give up the device once he took office because of security and legal issues. The Presidential Records Act puts correspondence, including e-mails, in the official record and available for public review. Presidential e-mails also can be subpoenaed.

Former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton did not use e-mail while in office. Before taking office for his first term, Bush e-mailed friends and relatives about why he would no longer be using electronic mail.

"Since I do not want my private conversations looked at by those out to embarrass, the only course of action is not to correspond in cyberspace," he wrote to them.

Turning off such an electronic pipeline has been tough for Obama to fathom. In the days leading up to the inauguration, he told CNBC and The New York Times, “I’m still clinging to my BlackBerry. They’re going to pry it out of my hands.”

“Let the man have his BlackBerry,” is what John D. Podesta, head of Obama’s transition team, said he told staffers last week. Podesta wrote about the issue in an opinion piece for The Los Angeles Times.

“I've been working with Barack Obama since before the election, and I know that without his virtual connection to old friends and trusted confidants beyond the bubble that seals off every president from the people who elected him, he'd be like a caged lion padding restlessly around the West Wing, wondering what's happening on the other side of the iron bars that surround the People's House,” Podesta wrote.

<span style="font-style: italic">Encryption not total answer</span>
If Obama stays with the BlackBerry brand or any other commercial smartphone, it could be difficult to protect no matter what kind of encryption is employed.

“Any device the president would use would certainly attract a lot of malicious attention,” said Johannes Ullrich, chief research officer for the SANS Institute, a security research organization.

“The problem with mobile devices it that you cannot protect the medium they're connected to&quot; — in this case, the Internet, he said.
General Dynamics
Could this high-security device, the Sectéra Edge, made by General Dynamics, be a BlackBerry substitute or second device for President Barack Obama?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


One of the issues with BlackBerrys, made by Canadian company Research In Motion, is that its “numerous servers are used to transmit BlackBerry messages, and not all of them are in the United States,” he said.

“RIM’s main data center is in Canada, and messages exchanged among BlackBerrys will typically pass through this data center.”

Ullrich also said that a malicious e-mail could be sent with the intent of installing malware — malicious software — on the president’s BlackBerry “just like on a regular computer. This malware can forward messages from his BlackBerry to a third party. It could also be used to listen in on his conversations,” he said.

Pescatore said “a secure mobile device can definitely be kept secure and virus-free and the like. The bigger issue: Can the president really send e-mail over the Internet?

“Take an innocuous example. If (Obama) were to sit down at his personal PC, log into his (presidential) e-mail account and send a congratulatory e-mail to the pilot of the US Airways jet” that safely landed in the Hudson, “how would the pilot know it was really Obama? If someone else sent out a doctored e-mail pretending to be Obama, how would we know it wasn’t really him?”

One possible BlackBerry look-alike that might meet security concerns is the Sectéra Edge, wrote Marc Ambinder for The Atlantic magazine.

The Edge resembles a cross between a BlackBerry and a Palm Treo, and is made by General Dynamics.

Fran Jacques, a company spokeswoman, said &quot;there has been no confirmation&quot; that the device is being considered for use by the president.

The company says on its Web site the Edge was developed for the NSA’s “Secure Mobile Environment Portable Electronic Device program,” and is “certified to protect wireless voice communications classified Top Secret and below as well as access e-mail and websites classified Secret and below.”


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Say goodbye to BlackBerry? Yes he can, maybe


The Edge is the &quot;only&quot; device of its kind &quot;that switches between an integrated classified and unclassified PDA with a single key press,&quot; according to General Dynamics' site. It's also not cheap. Pricing ranges from $2,650 to $3,350.

No matter what device Obama winds up using, the president “may be less vulnerable to the most common attack: having his BlackBerry stolen or just forgetting it,” said Ullrich. “I would think that his security detail will prevent this.”

[Tuff Gong]

Re: Prez gets to keep his blackberry...fi u technical peeps

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: RichD</div><div class="ubbcode-body">maybe dem jus a mek him keep it as a placebo</div></div>

LOL!

[uswe]

Re: Prez gets to keep his blackberry...fi u technical peeps

I'm still trying to figure out how to use mine I find Nokia's more user friendly

[Pepper]

Re: Prez gets to keep his blackberry...fi u technical peeps

Dem super encrypt it.

But di real concern was dat 'Oh Prez Obama, all your e-mails become public record' Bush and Clinton never used e-mail...nevah want no record of dem chatting.

[Tuff Gong]

Re: Prez gets to keep his blackberry...fi u technical peeps

<a href="http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/01/president-oba-5.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">
<span style="font-style: italic">January 22, 2009 6:23 PM</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black'">President Obama Pays White House
Press Corps a Surprise Visit</span>
<span style="font-style: italic">January 22, 2009 6:23 PM</span></a>

<span style="font-family: 'Courier New'">Asked about the news that he would be keeping his Blackberry despite lawyers' advice, he said, &quot;I won the fight but I don't think it's actually up and running yet.&quot;

&quot;Alright guys,&quot; he said, leaving.</span>

[halfwaytree]

Re: Prez gets to keep his blackberry...fi u technical peeps

I don't like the idea at all!

He better watch his step and mind what he says and writes on that thing.

[tsophra]

Re: Prez gets to keep his blackberry...fi u technical peeps

well..he did say that whenever he emails he writes with the knowledge that anything he types can end up in in public

[Tuff Gong]

Re: Prez gets to keep his blackberry...fi u technical peeps

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/22/obamas-blackberry-who-wil_n_160235.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">
<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black'">Obama's BlackBerry: Who Will Get To Email The President?</span>
<span style="font-style: italic">Washington Post
Michael D. Shear
January 22, 2009 11:54 PM </span></a>

<span style="font-family: 'Courier New'">It is one of the most exclusive lists ever created.

Most members of Congress won't be on it. Supreme Court justices probably won't make the cut. Titans of industry and Hollywood stars will be found wanting.

In Washington, D.C., nothing will be harder to win a spot on than the list of e-mail addresses allowed to arrive, unimpeded, to President Obama's BlackBerry.</span>

[Dr.Dudd]

Re: Prez gets to keep his blackberry...fi u technical peeps

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Tuff Gong</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/22/obamas-blackberry-who-wil_n_160235.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">
<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black'">Obama's BlackBerry: Who Will Get To Email The President?</span>
<span style="font-style: italic">Washington Post
Michael D. Shear
January 22, 2009 11:54 PM </span></a>

<span style="font-family: 'Courier New'">It is one of the most exclusive lists ever created.

Most members of Congress won't be on it. Supreme Court justices probably won't make the cut. Titans of industry and Hollywood stars will be found wanting.

In Washington, D.C., nothing will be harder to win a spot on than the list of e-mail addresses allowed to arrive, unimpeded, to President Obama's BlackBerry.</span> </div></div>there is a super secret PDA that looks like the blackberry,that is used by tge Defence Department,costinf over $3500. I think that he will get one of those,

[kia027]

Re: Prez gets to keep his blackberry...fi u technical peeps

carrekshan- cause it nat secret anymore -- fbi gwine update u dossier fi dis move ya!


there <span style="font-weight: bold">was</span> a super secret PDA that looks like the blackberry,that is used by tge Defence Department,costinf over $3500. I think that he will get one of those,

[H_O]

Re: Prez gets to keep his blackberry...fi u technical peeps

look for the all new &quot;Presidential Edition&quot; Blackberry at your local T-Mobile this spring

[Gen]

Re: Prez gets to keep his blackberry...fi u technical peeps

aye sah


<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: I_Kia</div><div class="ubbcode-body">carrekshan- cause it nat secret anymore -- fbi gwine update u dossier fi dis move ya!


there <span style="font-weight: bold">was</span> a super secret PDA that looks like the blackberry,that is used by tge Defence Department,costinf over $3500. I think that he will get one of those, </div></div>

[Dr.Dudd]

Re: Obama wins battle to keep super-encrypted presidential B

Obama wins battle to keep super-encrypted presidential BlackBerry
(Charles Dharapak/AP)
President Obama said that administrators would have to pry the device from his hands
Murad Ahmed, Technology Reporter
Barack Obama looks set to keep full access to his personal inbox, after reports that he will be given a spy-proof smartphone to replace his cherished BlackBerry.

President Obama, a self-confessed BlackBerry addict, famously said that administrators would have to “pry it from my hands” after becoming inaugurated.

But security concerns have delayed a final decision as to whether or not he would be able to keep the device while in office.

According to the blogger Marc Ambinder of The Atlantic, however, government agencies have approved a unique, highly encrypted device through which Mr Obama will be able to use it to check “routine and personal messages”.

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Mr Ambinder wrote: “With few exceptions, government BlackBerries aren't designed for encryption that protects messages above the SECRET status, so it's not clear whether Obama is getting something new and special. The exception: the Sectera Edge from General Dynamics, which allows for TOP SECRET voice conversations.”

Mr Ambinder added: “It's not clear whether he yet has the device.”

The Sectera Edge is a heavy-duty, highly secure mobile phone, one of the few certified by National Security Agency for top-secret government usage. It was developed under a Defense Department project called SME-PED or Secure Mobile Environment Portable Electronic Device. It costs around $3,350 (£2,400).

The Obama Administration and General Dynamics have not commented on the reports.

The new Administration has been working through problems surrounding the security of the handheld device and how e-mails and other messages would fit into public record laws. The Secret Service is also thought not to consider the device to meet their highest security standards.

But Mr Obama has always sounded optimistic about keeping his BlackBerry.

He said in a recent CNN interview: &quot;I think we're going to be able to hang on to one of these. I want to be able to have voices, other than the people who are immediately working for me, be able to reach out and – and send me a message about what's happening in America.&quot;

It remains unclear whether Mr Obama's messages from a new portable device would be public under the Presidential Records Act, which requires the National Archives to preserve e-mail and other records, if he were to use the device only for personal communications.