NSA Chief: Hillary Clinton Emails Were 'Opportunity' for Foreign Spy Agencies

[magical thyme]

http://www.newsweek.com/mike-rogers-nsa-hillary-clinton-emails-376432

It would present an "opportunity" for spy agencies if the foreign minister of Russia or Iranwere to use a private email server for official business, the chief of the U.S. National Security Agency said on Thursday.

The comments by Admiral Mike Rogers were in response to questions during a U.S. Senate hearing about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's use of a private server for email.

It would present an "opportunity" for spy agencies if the foreign minister of Russia or Iranwere to use a private email server for official business, the chief of the U.S. National Security Agency said on Thursday.

The comments by Admiral Mike Rogers were in response to questions during a U.S. Senate hearing about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's use of a private server for email.

[jeff47]

1. How Team Clinton screwed up the security on her server

What we know so far:

1) Communications with her server were not encrypted for the first 3 months.
https://www.venafi.com/blog/post/what-venafi-trustnet-tells-us-about-the-clinton-email-server/

2) They left the default VPN keys installed on her server
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-04/clinton-s-e-mail-system-built-for-privacy-though-not-security

Using those addresses, McGeorge discovered that the certificate appearing on the site Tuesday appeared to be the factory default for the security appliance, made by Fortinet Inc., running the service.

3) They were using, and continue to use, self-signed SSL certificates
http://gawker.com/how-unsafe-was-hillary-clintons-secret-staff-email-syst-1689393042

4) They set up a .com domain, enabling the typosquater who has registered clintonmail.com (no "e" before "mail&quot . Whoever registered that domain is in a perfect position to steal login information or perform spear phishing attacks.

5) Her ISP was repeatedly hacked by China
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1251&pid=615632

[DisgustipatedinCA]

6. Also, they didn't pay the extra $10 for private domain registration. ALWAYS the mark of an amateur.

Edited to add: fuck the NSA anyway.

[jeff47]

17. Amateurish, but not that bad in this case

Their contact information wasn't exactly private.

[DisgustipatedinCA]

20. I just meant that to the right people with bad intent, non-private registration could be like a...

...flashing sign that says "hack me, I'm important".

[jeff47]

21. Yeah, but she also traveled to China and Russia.

So they got the giant "HACK ME!!" sign off her phone's IP traffic anyway.

(Or even more likely, off the phones of her staffers that also had accounts on that server.)

[bigtree]

2. one other thing this email stuff presents an opportunity for

...are opportunistic political attacks promoting the views of individuals like the NSA chief whose opinion would otherwise come under more criticism and scrutiny from progressives. Anything goes, I guess, when attacking Hillary. This undermines the promotion of a progressive campaign like Sanders'. It's short-sighted and banal to use this email nonsense as a hammer in our Democratic primary, and it makes it hard to distinguish this from attacks which originated with right-wing republicans' attacks on the Obama presidency and party.

[magical thyme]

4. it's an article in Newsweek, which a lot of people outside of DU read and trust

deal with it.

[Fred Sanders]

7. I decided to click in the link to check your claim...the article is from Reuters, reprinted.

[magical thyme]

10. a lot of people read Newsweek and a lot of people read Reuters.

The source is a good one.

[Fred Sanders]

11. Lot of people read Fox and NY Post.

Reuters is a news aggregator. Or at least used to be until they turned opinion into news, much like AP has.

[magical thyme]

15. holy crap. 5 replies -- almost 50% -- on a topic you are "bored" with.

give it a rest, Fred. Really....your defensiveness is showing...

[roguevalley]

24. a lot of people can't deal. they are always the same three people.

[bigtree]

8. the issue remains the same

...this NSA regards any breach of their secrecy as a crime.

Most progressives disagree. 'Deal with' that.

[Fred Sanders]

9. The question, no quote, was about foreign officials who use private servers for "official business".

Representing an "opportunity", also whatever that means, for American spy agencies who I guess would be trying to spy on another government elected senior official.

All so very scary, scary.....am I wrong?

So, again - and this is getting boring - what difference does it make...to anything to do with Clinton?

[magical thyme]

12. you're so bored with it you had to reply 3 times? make that 4 times!

and weren't going to click on the link until 4 minutes later, when you clicked on the link.

[Fred Sanders]

13. My work here is done.

[bigtree]

18. as far as Clinton is concerned

...the remark by the NSA head is an 'opportunity' to dig into Hillary, but I doubt it was meant as a specific charge against her.

As for Rogers, who knows which prerogative of the spooks he's promoting or defending? Anything he says should be regarded by those who object to the absolute and prosecutable secrecy of the security state as cover for his agency's overreach.

[roguevalley]

25. take out clinton, put in bush. You would be gathering firewood as i write this

[bigtree]

27. that's sophistry

...positing a fictional equivalency between Bush and Clinton.

[jeff47]

16. So NSA who knows a bit or two about breaking in to everything electronic,

like an email server, is not at all to be trusted on this issue because they know a bit or two about breaking into everything electronic.

Good job slaughtering that messenger. I'm sure that totally erases the security holes on that server.

[bigtree]

22. they have their agenda

...opponents of Hillary have theirs.

It's your choice what you choose to believe. What else do you agree with Admiral Rogers on? This could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

[jeff47]

23. And now you're beating the dead messenger's corpse.

There were some very large security holes on Clinton's server. See post #1. (Zero NSA sources, btw.)

You not liking the NSA does not magically make those security holes go away. No matter how much you hate them.

[bigtree]

28. 'hate' has nothing to do with it

...the object of this thread is to denigrate Clinton using the NSA chief's propaganda as a cudgel.

Folks advantaging their politics off of Rodgers will have to live with that.

[jeff47]

44. And how does that close the security holes in her server? (nt)

[840high]

31. Oh, please.

[emulatorloo]

3. Eyes on the Prize: Get Bernie the Nomination, don't kiss the NSA's ass

Treating the head of the NSA as if he were credible and acting as if the Republican-led Senate has no political agenda is a distraction as far as I'm concerned.

[jeff47]

19. Yeah! What's the NSA know about breaking into servers anyway!!!

Oh wait....

[emulatorloo]

36. One can't distrust the NSA one day and become a fanboy the next

For political expediency.

Well a person could, but that is not how Bernie rolls

[jeff47]

38. What fanboy?

The NSA breaks into computers. It's half of their job. The other half is preventing people from breaking into DoD computers.

One does not have to be a "fanboy" to make that accurate statement.

But I'm sure beating the messenger will totally make those security holes in her server disappear.

[emulatorloo]

39. Simple concept: The enemy of my enemy is not my friend

Every high school student knows the credibility of sources matter. So save the "beat up the messenger" canard. You are an intelligent person so I seriously doubt you are so gullible that you give a "fair shake" and breathlessly believe every word from someone who has lied to you before.

Anyway my main point is this is not how Bernie wins Iowa, and you do not see Bernie pushing manufactured scandals or promoting known liars.

[jeff47]

42. Simple concept: killing the messenger does not change the message.

Every high school student knows the credibility of sources matter.

And what, specifically, has the NSA done that makes you think they don't know how to break into servers?

You are an intelligent person so I seriously doubt you are so gullible that you give a "fair shake" and breathlessly believe every word from someone who has lied to you before.

Well, instead of continuing to beat the messenger's corpse, go have a look at reply #1. It lists the security holes we know about. And it has zero NSA sources.

You are attempting to make this about the NSA because you don't like the (obvious) message.

Anyway my main point is this is not how Bernie wins Iowa,

Believe it or not, massive security breaches do not disappear because there's a primary going on.

[Fred Sanders]

5. I read the OP twice and still have no idea what the fuss is about. And since there is not a

single quote of what the NSA chief actually said....I decline to click on the link.

Americans are growing sick and tired of the sick and tired GOP and corporate media led distorted attacks on Clinton, uncleverly manufactured by their propaganda factories as if on an assembly line.

If the 2016 election is not a horse race, can you just imagine the horror of corporate media CEO's at the lost revenue?

[hootinholler]

14. That's correct Admiral

Very vulnerable to anyone foreign or domestic.

[kelliekat44]

26. Funny how they were never hacked but NSA was. nt

[Fawke Em]

30. Who was never hacked?

[840high]

32. You don't know.

[kelliekat44]

33. Believe me, had it been hacked it would have been 24/7 over the news and FOX. nt

[magical thyme]

34. that's one of the things the FBI is looking into and they aren't talking to anybody

including Fox.

And, btw, Blumenthal's email account was hacked. That is what opened this big ol' ugly can o'worms to begin with.

Blumenthal's emails to Clinton, which were directed to her private email account, include at least a dozen detailed reports on events on the deteriorating political and security climate in Libya as well as events in other nations. They came to light after a hacker broke into Blumenthal's account and have taken on new significance in light of the disclosure that she conducted State Department and personal business exclusively over an email server that she controlled and kept secret from State Department officials and which only recently was discovered by congressional investigators.
http://gawker.com/leaked-private-emails-reveal-ex-clinton-aides-secret-sp-1694112647

[jeff47]

43. Because China and Russia announce their hacks.

You hear about things like the OPM hack because the OPM is required to notify the people affected by the hack, who then talk about it with the press.

The only people affected by a hack of Clinton's server is Clinton and her aides. There's no need to make a public announcement to notify her and her aides.

[Fawke Em]

29. And THAT is the issue with the private server.

I don't think it was illegal to use one, but the fact that it wasn't secure is the big deal.

Who wants a president who can be blackmailed?

[Fred Sanders]

35. Which RW site is that speculation from?

You also do not want a President with potential health problems.

[ljm2002]

37. I must point out...

...after the breaches of security of US government servers, where the records of over a million people with high-level security clearances were leaked, it borders on ridiculous to point at Hillary Clinton's private email server and claim THAT is a security risk.

[DanTex]

40. New hero of the Bernistas: the NSA chief!

This keeps getting better...

[Zorra]

41. Who could ever possibly believe him? Rumor has it that

the Chief of the NSA has boxes in his garage.