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Meet the Boeing Black, a smart phone worthy of a spy

The Boeing Black will brick itself if unauthorized users attempt to break the casing of the device. 

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FCC
The Boeing Black, pictured here in an FCC filing, is being billed as virtually unassailable to hackers.
  • By Matthew Shaer Correspondent

As the recent brouhaha over an iOS security flaw demonstrated, there is no such thing as a completely unassailable smart phone. But Boeing is betting it can come close. 

This week, the Chicago company unveiled the Boeing Black, a sleek and spy-worthy handset it says was "designed with security and modularity in mind." That security extends from the external casing – which Reuters reports is sealed with epoxy and screws, "the heads of which are covered with tamper proof covering to identify attempted disassembly" – to the hardware under the hood. 

The Black will accept two SIM cards, making it easier to tap into different networks, and the phone can run on WCDMA, GSM, and LTE bands. In addition, Boeing says users will be able to add biometric sensors for additional security. But the feature that has garnered the most attention, perhaps because of its similarity to a certain "Mission Impossible" self-destructing tape, is the phone's ability to brick itself completely. 

"Any attempt to break open the casing of the device would trigger functions that would delete the data and software contained within the device and make the device inoperable," Boeing wrote in documents filed with the FCC. 

Interested in getting your hands on a Boeing Black? Well, you'll have to be patient – neither a price nor a launch date have been announced. 

In related news, Apple has released an OS X patch for the so-called "gotofail" flaw, which made it possible for hackers to remotely weasel their way into some Apple desktops and laptops. That fix comes several days after Apple acknowledged there were holes in the security of both the OS X and iOS operating systems. For more on the latter – and for information on how to make sure your Apple device has the latest software – click here. 

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