If Donald Trump is really still using his unsecured Android phone to tweet, that’s terrible news for national security

When President Trump tweeted about crime in Chicago last night, he apparently did so from his old Android phone, much to the dismay of his aides.

A New York Times story says Trump didn’t actually turn off his personal smartphone ahead of the inauguration, as previous reports said he would and as aides have been pushing him to do.

Trump’s decision to continue using a smartphone that’s connected to the internet poses a serious national security risk, as we’ve written before. President Obama also wanted to keep using a smartphone, but when he assumed office, he traded in his BlackBerry for a secure, encrypted device that had most smartphone features turned off and could only communicate with a preselected group of aides who also had secure devices.

Here’s what the experts have to say about why using a standard cellphone is such a bad idea:

• A hacker could use keylogging software to see what Trump is typing before the tweet sends. That head start could be used to influence the stock market or exploited for political ends.
• Trump’s phone should not be connected to the internet anyway, since everything connected to the internet is vulnerable to attack.
• A commercial-grade phone should never be taken into high-level meetings. There are exploits that can power on its microphone to listen in.
• If Trump is using his phone for work in any way, the classified data networks he needs to access as president should not be connected to the phone, especially if that phone is one anyone can purchase off the shelf.

We’ve reached out to the White House for comment, but have yet to get a reply. (If anyone has Trump’s cellphone number, let us know and we’ll call him directly.)

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

Will you support Vox’s explanatory journalism?

Most news outlets make their money through advertising or subscriptions. But when it comes to what we’re trying to do at Vox, there are a couple reasons that we can't rely only on ads and subscriptions to keep the lights on.

First, advertising dollars go up and down with the economy. We often only know a few months out what our advertising revenue will be, which makes it hard to plan ahead.

Second, we’re not in the subscriptions business. Vox is here to help everyone understand the complex issues shaping the world — not just the people who can afford to pay for a subscription. We believe that’s an important part of building a more equal society. We can’t do that if we have a paywall.

That’s why we also turn to you, our readers, to help us keep Vox free. If you also believe that everyone deserves access to trusted high-quality information, will you make a gift to Vox today?

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via