Russian hosting the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi disclosed the Kremlin’s strengths and weaknesses. This was Russia’s chance to demonstrate, to the world, the Kremlin is more than just a military focused, homophobic, corrupt government.

Before the process of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) selection the Russian mafia and Kremlin administration gathered to disgust the Olympic selection process [via Focus].

When the selection process narrowed down to the final three Pyeongchang, Salzburg and Sochi the Russian mafia threatened the Salzburg campaign leader Fedor Radmann. Radmann quickly resigned in 2007 as he feared for his life [via Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung]. This was confirmed by the mayor of Salzburg Heinz Schaden [via WirtschaftsBlatt]

July 4, 2007 Russia was awarded the 2104 Winter Olympics.

Kremlin had seven (7) years to prepare Sochi for the Olympic. Plenty of time to put their $12 billion investment package towards getting Sochi ready for the global event.

Seven years later, according to some estimates, the costs to bring Sochi up to Olympic standards exceeded $50 billion dollars, making it the most expensive Olympic Games in history.

After the seven years and spending $50,000,000,000+ later was the Sochi Olympics ready? Nope.

Here is a quick recap of Russia’s lack of administration, planning, oversight and a hint to their priorities.

Sochi Olympic Failuress

As journalists and athletes begun to arrive it was as hotels were still under construction. [via Washington Post]

During Opening Ceremonies the fifth Olympic ring fails to open. [via BBC]

Olympic flame burns out 44 times. [via Metro]

U.S. Bobsledder gets trapped in bathroom, then gets stuck in an elevator. [via US]

The hotels had a water problem. [via Indy Star]

Cat falls through roof of the $32 million Adler Olympic Arena. [via Dodo]

Disabled are not welcomed even though it hosted the 2014 Paralympic [via ESPN]

Russia went out of their way to make sure the world knew the Sochi doesn’t have gays. [via Huffington Post]

Sochi Olympic Successes

Surveillance in Hotel Bathrooms. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak accidentally blurted “We have surveillance video from the hotels that shows people turn on the shower, direct the nozzle at the wall and then leave the room for the whole day.” [via Gizmodo]

Every single phone, laptop and internet device was hacked. Reported by journalist Brian Williams, “As tourists and families of athletes arrive in Sochi, if they haven’t been warned, and if they fire up their phones at baggage claim, it’s probably too late to save the integrity of their electronics and everything inside them. Visitors to Russia can expect to be hacked. And as Richard Engel found out upon his arrival there, it’s not a matter of if, but when.” [via Western Journalism]

The Sochi Olypics demonstrated two things — people aren’t important but information gathering is vital.

Trump, His Campaign Staff and His Administration Phones

We know that Trump, his campaign Staff and current Administration visited Russia.

The New York Times reported that Donald Trump still tweets from the White House on his Samsung Galaxy S III (or Galaxy S3) an “old, unsecured Android phone, to the protests of some of his aides,” which came on the market 2012.

Trump’s phone is 5 years-old. In technology and dog years that translates to dangerous and easily hackable.

It has been demonstrated that the Galaxy S3 can be hacked via NFC, allowing attackers to download all data from the phone. [via CNET]

Galaxy S3 has a vulnerability that allowed malicious apps to gain root privileges even on unrooted devices

Reports of Galaxy S3 spontaneous bricking of the unit, called the “sudden death vulnerability”, that occurs about six months after activation. [via International Business Times]

Between 2012 and 2017 did Trump visit Russia?

According to the Trump Twitter archives, all the tweets his tweet while in Moscow came from an Android phone. A 2016 analysis found that Trump’s personal tweets—as opposed to those written by staffers on his account—were generated by an Android phone. Is this the same Galaxy S3?

How many times has his Campaign Staff, Cabinet member or White House Staff visited Russia since 2008, the invention of the smart phone?

Who Used a Smartphone in Trump’s World?

The optics of Trump, his Campaign Staff and current Administration with their ties to Putin and Russian officials is not looking good. Frustrating, as it leads to more questions:

Who in the White House has visited a country that would hack their personal phones?

Why isn’t Trump using a more secure phone?

Is Trump’s phone hacked?

With most of Trump’s Campaign Staff and current Administration traveled to Russia how can we be sure their phones aren’t hacked?

Trump is upset by the White House leaks. Could it be the vulnerable insecure phones leaking?

If their phones have been compromised the solution isn’t to install another mobile app. Why is the White House staff using unsecured phones?

Will a factory reset fix a hacked phone?

Why are White House staff using their personal phones for internal communications?

Why did Spicer feel that looking at personal phone would find a leak?

If a phone can be hacked will it affect the cloud? If so, what is keeping the average smartphone user safe from Russia hacks?

We probably won’t get the answers we need or want. However as our technology dependency grows the solutions must held at the federal level, not the manufacturers. With the latest leaks of CIA hacking software we know that more secure a tech product the harder it is to gather, track and analyze information.

With the experience of Sochi Olympics, the CIA software and Wikileaks it has been communicated to the world “Russians are watching” and “Russians are listening”.