@eloy Great, thanks!

More about the history of papal telephony in the #Vatican can be read here: https://www.electrospaces.net/2013/02/papal-telephony.html

Today, the #Conclave starts in the #Vatican, where they still use these somewhat old-fashioned telephone sets - who recognizes them and knows what make and type they are?

Trump tries to turn the Oval Office into some kind of imperial palace... also clearly visible are two Cisco 8841 IP phones, one for secure and one for non-secure calls, similar to those on president Biden's desk: https://www.electrospaces.net/2021/01/the-phones-in-president-bidens-oval.html

New: The communications equipment of the US defense secretary and how Pete Hegseth circumvents it with the Signal app on his own computer:
https://www.electrospaces.net/2025/04/how-us-defense-secretary-hegseth.html

The non-secure personal computer which US defense secretary Hegseth uses for his Signal chats must be the one that can be seen on his desk in the photo on the right:
https://mastodon.social/@Electrospaces/114247791839862021

Next to the official DoD network terminals behind his chair, defense secretary Hegseth now also has a new (unofficial?) computer terminal on his desk:

US defense secretary #Hegseth had the messaging app #Signal installed on a personal desktop computer with an internet connection that bypassed the Pentagon’s security protocols: https://apnews.com/article/hegseth-signal-chat-dirty-internet-line-6a64707f10ca553eb905e5a70e10bd9d

British civil servants and parliamentarians have been warned that public places located near government buildings may be bugged by foreign intelligence agencies: https://intelnews.org/2025/04/21/01-3395/

With all the eyes on the Vatican now, I recall my blog post from 2013 about the telephone systems used by the popes, including an elaborate golden phone from the 1930s:
https://www.electrospaces.net/2013/02/papal-telephony.html

For the communication systems which the US military uses for exchanging classified information, see: https://www.electrospaces.net/2025/03/the-equipment-that-trumps-national.html

The US Army wants to use the encrypted messaging app #Wickr to connect American soldiers with foreign militaries, local personnel and other external partners, but only for unclassified information:
https://breakingdefense.com/2025/04/army-expands-access-to-encrypted-wickr-platform-in-aim-to-curb-insecure-comms-bolster-integration/

Large Language Models (LLMs) are Unreliable for Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI): https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.23175

The British Army successfully tested a radio-wave weapon to knock out drone swarms: https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2025/04/17/in-first-british-army-uses-radio-wave-weapon-to-knock-out-drone-swarm/

An apparently sensitive section in the UKUSA Agreement from 1946 reveals that NSA and GCHQ have always been interested in commercial communications when they contain information of interest:
https://media.defense.gov/2021/Jul/15/2002763709/-1/-1/0/AGREEMENT_OUTLINE_5MAR46.PDF

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and the US Space Force should prevent buying the same "surveillance-as-a-service" packets from commercial companies: https://www.airandspaceforces.com/space-force-intelligence-community-breaking-through/

In het NJB schreef Rowin Jansen een uitvoerig en gedegen artikel over de ongerichte kabelinterceptie onder de Wiv 2017 en de Tijdelijke wet cyberoperaties: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/activity-7315622469719973888-swlx?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAABt7uGsBt_OnSrZi1x6RwnMEF6uMmG-dgHs

European Commission officials heading to the IMF and World Bank spring meetings in Washington are advised to travel with only basic devices: https://www.ft.com/content/20d0678a-41b2-468d-ac10-14ce1eae357b

Het nationale investeringsfonds Invest-NL is op aandringen van de minister van Defensie prioriteitsaandeelhouder geworden bij Fox Crypto:
https://fd.nl/tech-en-innovatie/1552028/staat-neemt-belang-in-versleutelaar-van-staatsgeheimen

De westerse wereldorde staat op instorten, maar onze parlementaire commissie ("stiekem") voor de inlichtingendiensten gaat weer eens op zoek naar een lek...
https://www.nu.nl/politiek/6352089/commissie-inlichtingen-en-veiligheidsdiensten-doet-aangifte-om-vermeend-lek.html