alt Hacker NewsIs this serious?
It raises questions about smartphones being standard equipment for soldiers, but they do give every soldier an effective, powerful computing and communication platform (that they know without additional training).
The question is how to secure them, including against the risk described in the parent. That seems like a high risk to me I would expect someone is working on how to secure them enough that even Russian intelligence doesn't have an effective exploit.
The solutions may apply well to civilian privacy too, if they ever become more widespread. It wouldn't be the worst idea to secure Ukrainian civilian phones against Russian attackers.
Replies
Phones aren’t secure but are more secure than the standard radios most have access to.
Encrypted milspec comms aren’t the standard in a massive war.
It’s weird but discord, signal and some mapping apps on smartphones are how this war is being fought.
A radio on a soldier is already a dangerous communications device - with a radio you can call in artillery strikes, for example.
There's no particular need IMO to secure smartphones on the battlefield in anyway beyond standard counter-measures - i.e. encrypt the storage, use a passcode unlock.
I seem to recall uploaded selfies being a frequent source of problems. For example: https://www.rferl.org/a/trench-selfies-tracking-russia-milit...