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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Technology
Dan Sabbagh Defence and security editor

Mobiles are inherently insecure, which might be a surprise to British politicians

Liz Truss talking on a mobile in 2019
Liz Truss talking on a mobile in September 2019, when she was international trade secretary. Photograph: Tolga Akmen/AFP/Getty Images

It is no longer news to point out that a mobile phone, if hacked, can be the ultimate tool for surveillance. But the question is whether it is a surprise to British politicians – and whether they are using their devices sensibly or carelessly.

We will almost certainly never know precisely what happened to Liz Truss’s phone. The then foreign secretary had to abruptly drop her main number and take up a new, government-issued handset in the summer, just as it emerged she was likely to be the next prime minister after Boris Johnson.

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