from Hacker News

EU issues US-bound staff with burner phones over spying fears

by _tk_ on 4/14/25, 12:26 PM with 46 comments

• by donohoe on 4/14/25, 3:23 PM

  I was attending a conference last week with a mix of journalists and those adjacent to that space (editors, foundations, product, etc). Everyone is concerned about data security, but they are also concerned about the increase in device searches that has been reported (and often not reported).

  Yes, this is nothing new. But the increase is new.

  Anyone a visa is not in a strong position to decline. US citizens are expecting more scrutiny too.

  The use of a loaner, burner, or second device means you can now decline with confidence (and just be delayed by several hours in a interview room and have your devices confiscated) OR you can allow the search and protect your privacy (the most likely best use-case for visitors).

• by biglyburrito on 4/14/25, 12:28 PM

  https://archive.md/VcBLY

• by cadamsdotcom on 4/14/25, 7:29 PM

  Healthy security practices that should’ve been followed all along.

  The first-order effects of the world changing in 2025 are what we mostly notice - but some of the second and third order effects are really positive.

• by seb1204 on 4/14/25, 1:33 PM

  What does this mean in plain English? > Commission officials have been told to ensure their visa is in their diplomatic laissez-passez rather than national ones.

• by hunglee2 on 4/14/25, 12:36 PM

  should use Huawei for US trips

• by sipofwater on 4/15/25, 6:32 AM

  1. "Your Phone, Your Data: How to Safeguard Your Digital Life When Entering the U.S.": https://www.rnlawgroup.com/your-phone-your-data-how-to-safeg... (www.rnlawgroup.com/your-phone-your-data-how-to-safeguard-your-digital-life-when-entering-the-u-s/), https://web.archive.org/web/20250307234303/www.rnlawgroup.co... (web.archive.org/web/20250307234303/www.rnlawgroup.com/your-phone-your-data-how-to-safeguard-your-digital-life-when-entering-the-u-s/)

  2. Is Your Password Secure? (IYPS) is a "password strength app that evaluates and rates your password's robustness, estimates crack time, and provides helpful warnings and suggestions for stronger passwords.": https://github.com/StellarSand/IYPS

  3. Android KeePassDX can generate passwords and passphrases: https://github.com/Kunzisoft/KeePassDX

  4. "Password Generator is a simple Android application which generates secure passwords.": https://gitlab.com/vecturagames/passwordgenerator

  5. KeePassXC has a "Password Generator": https://keepassxc.org/docs/KeePassXC_UserGuide , https://github.com/keepassxreboot/keepassxc , https://keepassxc.org/download , https://github.com/termux/termux-packages/tree/master/x11-pa... (github.com/termux/termux-packages/tree/master/x11-packages/keepassxc)

  6. "keepassxc-cli is the command line interface for the KeePassXC password manager.": https://github.com/keepassxreboot/keepassxc/blob/latest/docs... (github.com/keepassxreboot/keepassxc/blob/latest/docs/man/keepassxc-cli.1.adoc), https://keepassxc.org/docs/KeePassXC_UserGuide#_command_line... (keepassxc.org/docs/KeePassXC_UserGuide#_command_line_tool), https://keepassxc.org

  7. "Motorola moto g play 2024 Smartphone, Android 14 Operating System, Termux, And cryptsetup: Linux Unified Key Setup (LUKS) Encryption/Decryption And The ext4 Filesystem Without Using root Access, Without Using proot-distro, And Without Using QEMU": https://old.reddit.com/r/MotoG/comments/1jkl0f8/motorola_mot... (old.reddit.com/r/MotoG/comments/1jkl0f8/motorola_moto_g_play_2024_smartphone_android_14/)

  8. "Avoid US or Take Burner Devices, Canadian Executives Tell Staff": https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-15/avoid-us-... (www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-15/avoid-us-or-take-burner-devices-canadian-executives-tell-staff), https://archive.is/GvBLF

• by ajb on 4/14/25, 1:28 PM

  The fact is that spying on trade negotiations has been commonly done between the Western states, well before Trump. They should have been doing this already.