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35 Million Euros Wasted on Unusable "Secure" Smartphones
16 Dec, 2025
Summary
- German Ministry spent 35 million euros on unusable secure smartphones.
- Infrastructure incompatibility prevented encrypted communication until June 2025.
- Many customs employees refused to use the phones due to functional limits.
The German Federal Ministry of Finance has been criticized by the Federal Audit Office for a significant waste of taxpayer funds, totaling 35 million euros. This expenditure was for the procurement of 17,321 "secure" smartphones intended for the customs administration to facilitate encrypted communication up to classified information levels.
However, it was discovered post-purchase that the IT infrastructure into which these smartphones were to be integrated was not cleared for classified information until June 2025. Consequently, the expensive devices could not be used for their intended purpose of secure communication for nearly three years after their purchase. Many customs employees also found the smartphones to have significant functional limitations, such as issues with the calendar and email retrieval, leading them to continue using their basic mobile phones.
