UK Is Banning Apple Watch From Cabinet Meetings Over Russian Hacking Fears (techweekeurope.co.uk)

Mickeycaskill quotes a report from TechWeekEurope UK: Ministers have been forbidden to wear the Apple Watch during cabinet meetings due to the risk they could be hacked by Russian agents, according to a report. Prime minister Theresa May imposed the new rules following several high-profile hacks that have been blamed on Russia. Several cabinet ministers previously wore the Apple Watch, including former Justice Secretary Michael Gove. Mobile phones have already been banned due to similar concerns. Politically motivated hackers have caused disruption in several recent incidents, including the hack of the Democratic National Committee, which resulted in the release of a large cache of internal emails. One of the paper's sources said: "The Russians are trying to hack everything."

Comments

Look, over there!

[BlackSabbath]

I suspect, given PM May's well-documented willingness to trample on the privacy rights of her citizens, that the ban has more to do with prevention of any leaks a la Snowden. What is said in cabinet, stays in cabinet.

I'm reminded of that famous quote by Otto von Bismarck, "Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made." We don't want the proles learning what we really think of them.

Pot meet kettle

[dargaud]

So, now that the pot has met the kettle, can those goons finally get their security agencies to actually do defence instead of offence ? By that I mean get the NSA, GCHC, etc to find vulnerabilities, yes, but actually use their clout to FORCE vendors to fix them (jailtime for root/root accounts on routers ?). And get ISPs to shut down the bots running on their networks. And shut down the spammers and malware peddlers that can't be that hard to find. It's for everyone's benefit, including those cabinet ministers who fear their watch...