“If Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un are texting each other, it’s likely being done using a device made by an American company,” Julie Verhage reports for Bloomberg. “This week, the two leaders met in person, kicking off a significant summit between the nations and marking the first face-to-face encounter between a U.S. president and a leader of North Korea. As they spoke, they probably checked emails, texts and made phone calls on something like an iPhone, according to research from U.S. cybersecurity firm Recorded Future.”
“‘Our analysis reveals the overwhelming presence of American hardware and software on North Korean networks and in daily use by senior North Korean leaders,’ the report says. Most North Koreans, by contrast, only have access to a limited number of sites using state-sanctioned tools —though the design of those tools is often distinctly Mac-like,” Verhage reports. “In particular, Kim Jong Un himself seems to be an avid Apple user. The leader has been photographed several times using devices from the tech giant, here with an iMac and here with a MacBook Pro.”
“As of Tuesday afternoon in Singapore, the two leaders said they had decided to “leave the past behind,” and signed what they called a ‘comprehensive document,'” Verhage reports. “The agreement, according to Trump, will put North Korea on a path to denuclearization ‘very quickly.’ In exchange, the U.S. could loosen its sanctions —maybe even on iPhones.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: If Trump and Kim are texting each other, we’d love to read those messages, but since they’re very likely using Apple’s secure end-to-end encrypted iMessage system on iPhones, that’d be virtually impossible!*
*Unless GrayKey and short non-alphanumeric passcodes were involved
SEE ALSO:
Dow set to pop triple digits after North Korea says it’s open to talk about denuclearization with U.S. – March 6, 2018
Kim Jong-un’s North Korea produces Apple iPad knockoff – May 31, 2017
New version of North Korea’s state-sanctioned Red Star Linux closely resembles Apple’s OS X for Mac – February 3, 2014