You'd think the most powerful man in the world would have access to any device he wants - but when it comes to phones and smartwatches, Joe Biden could be in for a big disappointment.
The electronic devices around the new US president may be the most prominent targets of potential hacking in the world.
"The chances are zero that Russia hasn't had its eye on world leaders," says Harvard Kennedy School lecturer Bruce Schneier.
In the XNUMXs, this was not such a problem - the only personal devices that could be hacked were computers and ordinary mobile phones.
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And why would the president need a mobile phone, when he could ask to be connected to anyone in the world via a secure connection.
But that all changed in 2009, when Barack Obama took office.
He was so attached to his BlackBerry that he argued with security advisers for weeks to keep it - a battle he eventually won.
"By compromise, he was only allowed to stay in touch with senior staff and a small number of personal friends," according to one official.
And since then, the range of technological devices the president would like to use has only gradually increased - giving security advisers many sleepless nights.
Obamaped
When the iPad came out in 2010, the president naturally wanted one.
And that's why the national security advisers did Obamaped, a hardened, more secure iPad, which was replicated for its staff, a former adviser told BBC News,
"In the Obama administration, it was common for senior staff to have iPads that were ... modified," says Ari Schwartz, the National Security Council's cybersecurity officer during the Obama administration.
However, the technology setup of the White House remained somewhat old-fashioned.
"There is no Wi-Fi and at one point we had a little discussion about whether to introduce it," says Schvortz.
"And the conclusion was: 'Well, then you open up space for security flaws.'"
The Obama residence eventually got Wi-Fi, however.
But the coverage was insufficient at best, according to the president's own family.
Donald Trump, arguably the most famous man on Twitter during his presidency, also insisted on using a personal device - reportedly owning a number of "disposable" phones which he used for a short time and then they would be replaced for security reasons.
Forwards it was widely reported that he was extremely skeptical of the use of computers and emails, and that he preferred to use paper for most of his communication.
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Biden's Peloton bike
If the iPad was responsible for a couple of sleepless nights for technology consultants, today the Internet is a constant nightmare.
"Everything has become a computer, and those computers are vulnerable," says Schneier.
"Whether it's a Peloton bike or your phone, your fridge, your thermostat, your toys, your car - they're all vulnerable to hacking."
And that presents a problem for President Biden, who seems to like technological gadgets.
He was photographed wearing an Apple watch, which he allegedly owns Peloton's exercise bike which has a computer screen, camera and microphone, all connected to the Internet.
Can it be insured?
"You can do all kinds of things, like modify the hardware, rip out the camera, things the National Security Agency (NSA) can always do," says Schneider.
And it might be somewhat safer.
But that could also kill the point of using cutting-edge technology.
"It's very rare that you'll find a device that can't be hacked," says Stanford University's Herbert Lin.
"Most devices that can't be hacked are pretty much useless because they can't communicate."
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"Smart" is not safe
The safest thing to do is not to use any technological gadgets at all.
But as the previous two presidents have shown, that is difficult to communicate to a commander-in-chief.
According to Biden biographer Evan Osnos, the president also uses the Apple News application.
That could also be a problem.
Moreover, Schvortz says, software is sometimes the most difficult to protect.
"On the software side, it's much harder to maintain good security, because everything is updated remotely now," he says.
"You may be completely safe today, the day you buy the product."
"But then a year later, someone can come along and install malware in it and destroy the security you originally had."
And Schneier is worried about that.
"Everything is a potential danger ... Apple News, everything, because everything is connected, because everything can affect anything else," he says.
"That's why everything is so complicated."
He says throwing away the device is often the best safety advice, even if it's not practical.
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Worst scenario
At the end of last year, news emerged that the US government's networks had been compromised by suspected Russian hackers.
The massive hacking of software developer Solar Winds reportedly affected the ministries of finance, commerce and national security.
To make matters worse, once the hackers got in, they went undetected for months.
This hack revealed two things:
- Foreign actors are constantly looking for loopholes in American cyber security
- Those holes exist
The worst possible scenario is that the president's device is hacked and it goes unnoticed.
And the fact that the hacking happened so recently - and so close to the White House - is of particular concern to President Biden's security team.
"Imagine the president's iPhone being hacked," Lin says.
"And so you have the guidance device that the president carries with him."
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Biden enters the White House nervous about cybersecurity.
And advisers know that what is safest and what the president wants are not always the same thing.
President Biden is perhaps the most powerful person in the most powerful country in the world.
But he may have to fight like hell to keep the gadgets that many others take for granted.
James Clayton is the BBC's North America technology reporter based in San Francisco. Follow him on Twitter @jamesclayton5.
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