Rudy Giuliani Forgot iPhone Password Weeks After Being Named Cybersecurity Adviser, Needed Apple To Unlock It
Just weeks after Rudy Giuliani was named a top cybersecurity adviser to Donald Trump in 2017, the former New York mayor needed some major cybersecurity help of his own, a new report reveals.
NBC News reported on Thursday that Giuliani forgot the password to unlock his phone, and, after 10 unsuccessful attempts to open the phone, he became locked out. Giuliani then had to visit an Apple Store in downtown San Francisco to seek an employee who could help with unlocking his iPhone.
As the report noted, the appearance of one of Trump’s top surrogates made quite an impression on the Apple Store staff.
“Very sloppy,” said an employee who was in the store the day Giuliani made his appearance in February 2017. “Trump had just named him as an informal adviser on cybersecurity, and here he couldn’t even master the fundamentals of securing your own device.”
Experts interviewed by NBC News blasted Giuliani’s misstep, saying that someone named as cybersecurity adviser should have at least basic security measures down — and should know better than going to a commercial store in order to get it fixed.
Michael Anaya, a former FBI supervisory special agent who headed a cybersecurity squad in the bureau, was in disbelief at Giuliani’s misstep.
“That’s crazy,” he said.
Giuliani is not the only member of the Trump administration to come under fire for apparently lax cybersecurity measures. Trump himself has been criticized for using an unsecured phone, one that he has reportedly used to call world leaders.
The report about Giuliani’s iPhone lockout comes close to a week after another very public technology mishap for Giuliani. As The Inquisitr reported, Giuliani twice “butt dialed” a reporter’s phone and left long messages, during which he could be heard having a conversation about the Bidens and his apparent need for hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash. The incident took place after a phone interview between Giuliani and the reporter, but Trump’s personal lawyer then called the reporter back later, apparently by accident.
Rudy Giuliani has found himself embroiled in the impeachment inquiry facing Donald Trump, with allegations that he carried out a secret shadow foreign policy on Ukraine as he pressed the country to dig up dirt on Joe Biden. A whistleblower complaint claimed that Giuliani personally pressed leaders in Ukraine to start an investigation of a company that employed the former vice president’s son, Hunter Biden.
