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Boeing to develop a super-secret, self destructing ‘Black’ smartphone filled with security features
Every company is taking security matters seriously, even governments. With the increase in the number of data leaks and security breaches occurring everyday that you read here on TechWorm, one company in particular has gone one step ahead to create a so-called self-destructing phone! Aircraft manufacturer and defense contractor Boeing has turned to Canadian telecommunication form BlackBerry for help in developing a super-secret, self-destructing ‘Black’ smartphone for United States government.
BlackBerry to the rescue
Boeing being a major defense contractor for the US military equipment has been tasked by US government to come up with a super-secret, unhackable, unbreachable, malware resistant smartphone for its classified use and Boeing has in turned approached the struggling BlackBerry for technical assistance to manufacture such a smartphone for the US government.
Blackberry may not be doing so well in the consumer market these days in the face of major competition from the likes of Apple and Samsung, but the fact remains that there are lot of BlackBerry users who will stake a lot to say that privacy provided by BBM was the best. ย In fact in its heydays, BlackBerry’s USP was unbreachable and highly secure communication using BlackBerry’s own servers which the businesses and enterprises loved. That said, it is still considered best in the industry as far as security is concerned. When was the last time you heard that hackers had managed to break into Blackberry servers ? The answer is never!
Boeing requires that particular expertise from BlackBerry to manufacture a unhackable smartphone tentatively called ‘Black’ and therefore it has turned to the Canadian firm to create this so called super-secret and self destructive “Black” smartphone for them.
“We’re pleased to announce that Boeing is collaborating with BlackBerry to provide a secure mobile solution for Android devices utilizing our BES 12 platform,” said BlackBerry chief executive John Chen.
“That, by the way, is all they allow me to say.”
Self-Destruct Mode
The ‘Black’ smartphone will feature dual-SIM capability, built-in encryption, hardware communications crypto, swappable backplates that allow the smartphone to have satellite or radio capability, solar power chargers, and biometric sensors. But the important feature where it differs from present lot of smartphones available is that as soon as ‘Black’ detects any malicious activity such as an attempt to tamper with the data it contains, the phone will automatically wipe clean all data it contains. Thusย by destroying its memory it will render itself useless in case ‘Black’ or its owner is compromised.
The US Department of Defense (DoD) currently certifies certain BlackBerry handsets for use on its networks, while the NSA approves the use of newer Samsung Galaxy devices that use Knox feature and LG’s G3 smartphone for classified use. But the US government doesnt have a full fledged smartphone brand or manufacturer which can provide it with wholesale smartphones with above top rated hack free features for use by its field officers and other officials in the higher echelons of power. ย Boeing and BlackBerry are planning to do just that.
If at all ‘Black’ is developed the way it has been conceived, it could be one heck of a device to own for private individuals as well