Pay-as-you-go phones (aka “burner phones”) can be purchased without the need to set up an account, so the phone will not be tied to your identity. When someone has concerns that their smart phone may have been hacked or compromised, a good option is to pick up a burner phone to use for those phone calls that need to be kept private and confidential. The less expensive models that are not “smart phones” will not support apps that may contain spyware. It is much cheaper and quicker than having a smart phone analyzed electronically for spyware.
George Clooney and his new wife recognized burner phones as a way to help control some of the privacy of their recent wedding.
TMZ reported the rules for wedding guests:
— Leave your cellphone in your hotel room
— If you think you may need your phone, then bring it … but leave it at a kiosk near the entrance
— All guests will be provided a burner phone with a code, which serves as a ticket to enter
— All guests will also receive a camera to take pics as they please
— HERE’S THE CATCH … The camera has a code that allows George’s people to access the photos. So if Amal’s 3rd cousin were to give TMZ a pic of the nuptials, George could find the matching phone pic and skewer the cuz.
From The Register:
George Clooney, WikiLeaks’ lawyer wife hand out burner phones to wedding guests
George Clooney and his new wife – a human rights lawyer who has represented six-fingered embassy dweller Julian AssangeTM – went to extreme lengths to safeguard the privacy of their wedding, even issuing guests with “burner phones” under their control.
Guests at last weekend’s nuptials between George Clooney and top lawyer Amal Alamuddin in Venice, Italy, were reportedly given strict instructions on how to help keep images and details of the wedding festivities beyond the reach of tabloid journalists and hackers.
Clooney’s burner phones (brand unknown) served as a ticket for the event, celebrity gossip site TMZ reports. Guests were also given instructions on smartphone security protocols for the event, Business Insider adds.
Team Clooney were apparently nervous about photographs and other information leaking out from the poorly protected accounts of celebrity guests, a concern heightened by the iCloud celeb nudie hacking scandal.
Security veteran Graham Cluley commented: “How were George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin to know if the celebrities they had invited to their three-day wedding party hadn’t already had their accounts compromised, and might be unwittingly leaking information and snaps? But the precaution taken by the newlyweds wasn’t taken purely because of hackers, but because the couple are said to have sold the rights to the wedding photographs to a magazine