NYT: Chinese and Russian spies regularly listen to Trump's calls on his iPhone

Chinese and Russian spies regularly listen to personal phone calls that President Trump makes on his iPhone, one of which is no different from the smartphone used by millions of other people. The US President's flamboyant approach to electronic security has frustrated many current and former officials; The New York Times, who reported on telephone interceptions on Wednesday night.

In Wednesday's article, Trump reports that two official iPhones have been modified by the National Security Agency to limit the types of hacking they are exposed to. The president has a third iPhone, without any modification, which he uses as a personal device, because unlike the official iPhone, he can store personal contacts there. Moreover, while Trump is supposed to swap his two official phones every 30 days against new ones, he rarely does. Trump has agreed to abandon his Android phone, which most security experts believe is more vulnerable than Apple's iOS, and Trump has also accepted the more tedious feature of having them. two official iPhones. One concerns Twitter and other apps, while the other deals with calls.

Nevertheless, when Trump uses the cell phone to call friends, Chinese spies often listen in hopes of better understanding how to influence him on the long-running trade issue. Russian spies also regularly listen to Trump's calls, although they do not seem to be carrying out an influence campaign as sophisticated as their Chinese counterparts. The aides have repeatedly warned the president that calls on mobile phones are particularly likely to be watched by opponents. The aides pressured him to use landlines instead, but he refused to give up his appliances.

How is it done?

the NYT Listening is not described in detail, ie "calls made from telephones are intercepted when they pass through cell towers, cables and switches that make up the national cellular networks and international. Calls made from any cell phone – iPhone, Android and the Samsung Flip phone at the old school – are vulnerable. "

Based on this description, spies could listen in many ways. The most plausible method, former head of security Facebook, Alex Stamos says on Twitter, is the passive decryption of the call when it passes from a phone to the cellular tower of an operator, often when it uses the standard Voice over LTE.

"The Russian and Chinese embassies probably absorb all the GSM / LTE bands in the district," Stamos wrote. "Modern iPhones would make most VoLTE voices, which would imply a passive attack on the handshake or KASUMI encryption. This seems most likely.

As Stamos pointed out, the problem with this theory is that there is currently no known practical attack that decrypts LTE calls. For this theory to be correct, governments must now be able to secretly break a standard that hundreds of millions of people use every day to protect their most sensitive personal and business secrets.

4) passive decryption.

The Russian and Chinese embassies probably absorb all the GSM / LTE bands in the district. Modern iPhones make most VoLTE voices, which means that it would require a passive attack on the handshake or KASUMI encryption. Seems most likely.

– Alex Stamos (@alexstamos) October 24, 2018

Stamos also raised the possibility that spying on Trump exploits the weaknesses of Signaling System No. 7, the four decades old network protocol that allows cell phone users to seamlessly connect to a network. to each other when traveling around the world. Although technically possible, Stamos has discounted the ES7 as a likely method of spying, as operators would probably know if it was used to monitor the president's phone numbers. Stamos has also discounted phone malware implants introduced in the baseband and using rays to hijack calls.

Others spoke of the possibility that spying could be done by monitoring the connections of people receiving calls from the president. This is certainly possible, but that would not explain why the assistants are so frustrated by Trump's continued use of mobile phones and resistance to using landlines.

Wednesday's article contrasts Trump's mobile phone safety approach with its predecessor. During his second term as president, Barack Obama used an iPhone, but he could not call and could receive emails only from a special address provided to a select group of staff and contacts relatives. The iPhone did not have a camera or microphone and could not be used to download applications at will. Texts were not allowed as there was no way to collect and store messages as required by the Presidential Law on Archives. Often, when Obama needed a cell phone, he used one belonging to an aide.

Trump, for his part, insisted that its peripherals be more efficient. The president usually uses his mobile phone when he does not want a call to be routed through the White House telephone switch and logged for the assistants to see.