Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign is now using specialized, encrypted mobile phones and secure laptops in an effort to protect staff following a series of successful Iranian hacks and two attempts to assassinate the former president.
The campaign recently bought a package of these devices from Santa Barbara, California, -based Green Hills Software, the developer of a proprietary, security-focused operating system already used by multiple U.S. agencies, the company’s CEO told Reuters.
The company sells a customized Android phone that comes with its own unique operating system, stripping it of most functions aside from phone calling and text messaging, while implementing additional security controls.
While Green Hills Software put out a press release on Oct. 1 about the deal with the campaign, the development has received virtually no press attention.
Company President and CEO Dan O’Dowd said he approached the campaign through shared contacts and offered his company’s technology. “Securing the integrity of the democratic process is paramount,” O’Dowd said in the release.
A Trump campaign spokesperson declined to comment. The top echelon of the campaign recently made significant security improvements to their hardware, said a person familiar with campaign matters who spoke on condition of anonymity, although they were unaware which vendor had been chosen.