Head Of The NSA Starts Testing Of Boeing’s Self-Destructing Smartphone
Boeing is testing a smartphone – the Boeing Black, which can self-destruct itself if required. In February 2014, Boeing Co. had filed documents with the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) describing the Boeing Black, which was intended to be used as a means of secure communication between agents, contractors around the world with the U.S. government’s top secret communications network on matters related to national security and defense.
Lt. Gen. Alan Lynn, the Defense Information Systems Agency, co-developers, has mentioned that NSA chief Adm. Michael Rogers, who handles top secret documents on a daily basis, was one of the first to test Boeing’s new Black smartphone.
“The Boeing Black is the device we’re currently working with,” Lynn said. “We’re just now in the test phase,” he said.
Earlier this year, Boeing told the FCC that if the device is tampered with it self-destructs:
“Any attempt to break open the casing of the device would trigger functions that would delete the data and software contained within the device and make the device inoperable.”
The most secure phone in the world is just a window to another computer, a remote server on the military’s Top Secret JWICS (Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications System) network.
According to General Lynn, the device uses “a large amount of encryption” and “nothing lives on the device.” That means that the Boeing Black acts like a dumb terminal once it connects to a secure server where all the work is done and holds the data. The only thing the user controls are input signals (keyboard, mouse) to the server. The result, said General Lynn: “We’re not too worried about losing data,” at least not off the phone.
Even though the handset is intended as a government-use device it also supports dual-SIM technology, so users can switch between government and commercial networks without swapping phones, all while protecting data on traditional cellular networks, according to Boeing website. It would use the Android operating system from Alphabet Inc. and also support GSM, WCDMA and LTE protocols. Additionally, the Boeing Black would have an HDMI port, USB, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capability.
Source: Huffington Post
