It's no secret that President Donald Trump tweets at all hours[1], and calls friends and advisors[2] late into the night. But a New York Times report[3] indicates that, thanks in part to Trump's use of a personal iPhone, Chinese and Russian spies are listening in on his calls.
That other countries would want to spy on Trump should come as no surprise. The US certainly does its share[4] of surveillance on world leaders. But Trump has developed a track record since entering the White House of using personal, under-secured mobile devices[5] that make snooping on him that much easier.
iSpy
The Times reports that Trump currently has three iPhones—an NSA-secured iPhone for calls, another secure iPhone that can't make calls but does have Twitter and other apps, and a personal, off-the-shelf iPhone, apparently with no added security, that he keeps handy because he can store his contacts on it. That last one is the main concern. But Trump also apparently still refuses[6] to even swap out his official iPhones every 30 days, which would generally be required of such a high-profile government official, in order to purge any malware.
"The point appears to be that he is not listening to others' advice," says Will Strafach, an iOS security researcher and the president of Sudo Security Group. "The big question is whether this is due to not caring, or if it is because there are no immediately available better solutions."
A White House representative did not return a request from WIRED for comment, but Trump himself tweeted[7] on Thursday morning that, "I only use Government Phones, and have only one seldom used government cell phone." Trump