The European Commission is giving staffers visiting the US on official business burner laptops and phones to avoid espionage attempts, according to the Financial Times.
The use of clean and locked-down hardware is common practice for anyone visiting China, Russia, and other states where aggressive electronic surveillance is expected. Apparently the European Union has added the United States to that list. “The transatlantic alliance is over,” an EU official told the newspaper, which reported the commission “is issuing burner phones and basic laptops to some US-bound staff to avoid the risk of espionage — a measure traditionally reserved for trips to China.” Four sources told the FT the EC had changed its guidance to ensure that visitors to America take serious precautions against cyber-espionage.
Read more…
Source: The Register
Sign up for our Newsletter
The latest news and insights delivered right to your inbox.
Related:
- NATO and European Union launch task force on resilience of critical infrastructure
March 16, 2023
First announced by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in January, the initiative brings together officials from both organisations to share best practices, share situational awareness, and develop principles to improve resilience. The Task Force will begin by focusing on four sectors: energy, transport, digital infrastructure, and space. Announcing ...
- ECB: The Quick and the Dead – building up cyber resilience in the financial sector
March 8, 2023
The proliferation of cyber threat actors combined with an increase in remote working and greater digital interconnectedness is raising the risk, frequency and severity of cyberattacks. Increasingly, cyber criminals are launching ransomware attacks and demanding payment in crypto. Cyberattacks related to geopolitical developments – Russia’s aggression against Ukraine in particular – have also become a more common ...
- European Commission bans TikTok from employees’ phones
February 23, 2023
The Commission said in a statement that all its employees will have to comply by March 15. This measure aims “to protect the Commission against cybersecurity threats and actions which may be exploited for cyber-attacks against the corporate environment of the Commission,” the statement said. “The security developments of other social media platforms will also be kept ...
- WhatsApp Ireland fined €5.5 million for breaches of GDPR
January 19, 2023
WhatsApp Ireland has been fined €5.5 million for breaches of GDPR. The Data Protection Commission (DPC) has also announced that WhatsApp Ireland has been given six months to bring its data processing operations into compliance. The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, was adopted in 2016 and came into force on 25 May, 2018. Read more… Source: The ...
- NATO and European Union leadership sign third joint declaration
January 10, 2023
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, met on Tuesday (10 January 2023) at NATO Headquarters to sign the third Joint Declaration on NATO-European Union cooperation. Speaking at a joint press conference, Mr Stoltenberg said: “we are determined to ...
- Ireland fines Meta $414m for using personal data without asking
January 4, 2023
A legal saga between Meta, Ireland and the European Union has reached a conclusion – at least for now – that forces the social media giant to remove data consent requirements from its terms of service in favor of explicit consent, and subjects it to a few hundred million more euros in fines for the ...

