Obama Reportedly Gets a Super-encrypted BlackBerry
Barack Obama has apparently won his fight to retain his beloved BlackBerry.
An unidentified government agency has added a “super-encryption package” to a standard BlackBerry that the president can use for routine and personal messages, according to The Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder blog. The device is designed to protect Obama from hackers who seek to read his messages or learn his location, explains the National Business Review.
The Marc Ambinder article says BlackBerrys aren’t designed for encrypted messages of top-secret status, and it’s not clear if Obama is “getting something new and special.” A device that could do the job, the blog says, is the $3,350 smartphone called Sectera Edge, made by General Dynamics.
Earlier this month, Obama said he was in a “scuffle” with his lawyers over keeping his BlackBerry. “I’m still clinging to my BlackBerry,” Obama said in a CNBC interview. “They’re going to pry it out of my hands.”
While Obama won his BlackBerry battle, his aides aren’t so lucky. They will have to deal with a ban on instant messaging, Politico reports.
