Posted on 12/30/2013 6:55:26 AM PST by maddog55
WASHINGTON The personal e-mail account of a State Department whistleblower was hacked, and four years worth of messages some detailing alleged wrongdoing at the agency were deleted, The Post has learned.
The computer attack targeted the Gmail account of Diplomatic Security Service criminal investigator Richard Higbie, his lawyer, Cary Schulman, confirmed.
They took all of his e-mails and then they deleted them all, said Schulman. He said that he could not prove who was responsible for the hack job, but said the attack was sophisticated and called the targeting of Higbie alarming.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
How could that have happened?
I would hope, given the nature of the e-mails, this guy was smart enough to back them up somewhere. If not then I take h is whole story with a grain of salt.
Gmail account? Surely it’s there is a backup copy somewhere in Google.
“Hacking” of public email systems is not difficult, and I would go so far to say that Google probably gave backdoor access to government agencies. Bottom line, don’t store anything critical on public infrastructure such as Google, Amazon, Yahoo, etc.
If you need to save critical documents, either print them and file them in triplicate or have at least 3 soft copies of them (i.e. CD/DVD, thumb drive, and computer hard drive).
Let’s hope he has them backed up
Everything including titles to real estate has been put on the folking cloud.
Real lawyers are keeping paper copies of all of it in case
Diplomatic Security Service criminal investigator was a dumbass if he didn’t think that could happen and didn’t backup in ways you say.
It’s a Gmail account. You’d have to be a complete idiot to cache “evidence” or anything of any importance on systems or media not under your direct control.
If he didn’t save his emails off line he’s just flat stupid.
The lawyer talked about them taking away “ready access” to those emails, which leads me to believe they have a way to get them back but it will take time.
Methinks the FBI in Dallas needs to give some “truth serum” to the “petty thief” who stole only 3 computers from this guy’s office right after some whistleblowing came out.
Why are none of these hackings ever on the bad guys = always on the people fighting against this lawless regime?
Maybe it was a trap, and maybe they just caught the rat they were after.
“He said that he could not prove who was responsible for the hack job”
You know who could prove who is responsible? The NSA.
You are referring to a government employee and rectal thinking capacity in the same sentence. Why the big effort to be redundant?
It seems in today’s world, one must exhibit the the automatic reflex of cranial rectumitus to even have a chance at nailing down any GS level occupation. Which begs the next question; Why is his is news or even a startling revelation to anyone?
Don't forget to encrypt the files with a sufficiently secure password...
Inside TAO: Documents Reveal Top NSA Hacking Unit
The NSA's 50-Page Catalog Of Back Door Penetration Techniques Revealed
Between storing critical documents with Gmail and a ‘petty thief’ cutting a hole in a wall to steal three computers but nothing else, this story is suspect.
Well, the service provider will have backups of all those messages. They have to, in case the Feds subpoena them.
The list, Ping
Let me know if you would like to be on or off the ping list
a cautionary tale. If you have the goods on the regime, better hide copies in multiple locations, usb flash drives etc....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.