The only way to secure a computer is to turn it off and unplug it. - Old IT Saying

It seems the public fister just can't live without his fucking Blackberry.  Of course, their going to let him keep it even though there is an amazingly good reason they shouldn't:

Still, hackers can plant malicious software on a BlackBerry from afar. One existing piece of software, for example, can transform the device into a mini-radio receiver, allowing eavesdroppers to hear any conversations near it.

Others can detect the phone's location by way of signals it sends to nearby cellular towers, turning it into a homing device.

In fact, according to a database maintained by the Department of Homeland Security, at least 16 potential chinks in the BlackBerry's security armor have come to light since 2004. "Of course, the president's location is usually fairly publicly known#8212;he's within the White House or a building," said John Pescatore, vice president for Internet security at research firm Gartner Inc., who worked on communications security for the Secret Service in the early 1980s. "However, somebody could have the ability to figure out he's on this floor or that floor," he said.

Ultimately, the biggest concern may not be someone hacking into Obama's BlackBerry but targeting the devices of people he's communicating with, said Johannes Ullrich, chief research officer for the SANS Technology Institute in Bethesda, Md., which trains network security and system administrators.

Obama probably would not lose his BlackBerry, with dozens of Secret Service agents around to keep an eye on it. But if one of his e-mail correspondents lost his or her device, agents would not be there to scoop it up.

Security concerns are not the only consideration for Obama. Work-related communications of executive branch employees could become public records after the president's term is through.

What the fuck is he thinking?  Once again, his behavior forces me to believe he is just not a serious person.  He doesn't, in any way, understand the gravity of the position he now holds. 

But wait, it gets worse:

The newspaper said the Obama team, which ran a technology-savvy campaign, has been faced with a morass of security regulations, which bar private e-mail accounts and instant messaging.

Fuck.  Me.  With.  A.  Lubed.  Hammer.

Are they fucking serious?  Did it ever occur to them that the reason the previous administration didn't allow private e-mail and instant messaging is because those technologies are fundamentally and inherently unsecure.* 

The previous administration didn't allow them because being able to share pictures of kittens in bowls of yarn and super fucking important virus alert information was just slightly less important than... I don't know... securing the communications and informational integrity of the world's most powerful nation.  A nation, I might add, that is at war and has more enemies than any other entity in the history of Earth.

This is just sad.  And stupid.  And will lead inevitably to a major security breach or legal trouble for Obama or both. 

Verdict:  Dumb

Other things that are Obama's fault:

• Not only closing Guantanamo but closing all overseas "secret holding facilities" and eliminating any interrogation techniques that aren't in the Army Field Manual.  Verdict:  Evil
• Eleventy Billion Dollars to "stimulate" our debt shaft and massage our "economic prostate."  Verdict:  Dumb
• Got sworn in again, making him the third president to take the oath twice.  Verdict:  Smart.

Running total -

• Smart Things Obama Has Done:  1
• Dumb Things Obama Has Done:  3
• Evil Things Obama Has Done: 1

* - I don't mean insecure, I mean unsecure.  Insecure is how you feel when you think your nose is too big.  The use of private e-mail and instant messaging is the exact opposite of secure.  Shitty hackers can violate the pathetic safeguards on AIM.  World-class hackers will face-rape Yahoo's smiley face.

Posted by: Moron Pundit at 09:25 AM | Comments (13) | Add Comment
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