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Boeing Black Smartphone Self-Destructs if Tampered

posted by LaminatorX on Thursday February 27 2014, @08:30PM   Printer-friendly
from the This-phone-will-self-destruct-in-five-seconds dept.

Papas Fritas writes:

"Reuters reports that Boeing has unveiled a smartphone that deletes all data and renders the device inoperable if there is any attempt to open its casing. 'The Boeing Black phone is manufactured as a sealed device both with epoxy around the casing and with screws, the heads of which are covered with tamper proof covering to identify attempted disassembly,' says a letter included in the FCC filing. 'Any attempt to break open the casing of the device would trigger functions that would delete the data and software contained within the device and make the device inoperable.' Boeing's Black phone will be sold primarily to government agencies and companies engaged in contractual activities with those agencies that are related to defense and homeland security. The device will be marketed and sold in a manner such that low level technical and operational information about the product will not be provided to the general public. 'We saw a need for our customers in a certain market space.' says Boeing spokeswoman Rebecca Yeamans."

 
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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by SMI on Thursday February 27 2014, @10:43PM

    by SMI (333) on Thursday February 27 2014, @10:43PM (#8218)

    Computers have long since been designed to include an alternative [wikipedia.org] power source. It's not beyond possibility to take the same idea and change the specs for different functions.

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  • (Score: 1) by mmontour on Thursday February 27 2014, @11:33PM

    by mmontour (1104) on Thursday February 27 2014, @11:33PM (#8245)

    Many years ago there was a Dallas Semiconductor product called the Crypto iButton [thefreelibrary.com]. It was basically a Java smartcard with a built-in battery, and it would wipe its secure memory if it detected an attempt to bypass the tamper-resistant packaging. It was a nice product (although slow), but it never caught on and it's now discontinued.

  • (Score: 2) by mmcmonster on Friday February 28 2014, @07:15AM

    by mmcmonster (401) on Friday February 28 2014, @07:15AM (#8418)

    Doesn't really answer the question. Even watch batteries die in a couple years.

    What stops me from putting this in a small faraday cage and opening it up a couple years later?

    • (Score: 1) by SleazyRidr on Friday February 28 2014, @01:46PM

      by SleazyRidr (882) on Friday February 28 2014, @01:46PM (#8639)

      Nothing, other than the fact that your information will be a couple of years old. Nothing is ever foolproof.