The attachment:
Hillary Clinton’s emails and what to do about them
Barbara Simons simons@acm.org 650-328-8730
I believe that this is a more serious situation than perhaps Secretary Clinton and her aides realize. Fortunately, there is a positive step that can and should be taken.
The problem. There is a very real risk that the system was broken into, possibly by Republican operatives (or China or some other country or organization). If this has happened and if there is anything that might appear problematic in those emails, whether or not it actually is, the relevant emails might be released to the press shortly before the election. Even if the system was not broken into, there is the threat that opponents might release forged emails that are difficult to impossible to distinguish from real ones.
In addition, there are questions that any computer security expert will ask, such as was the system backed up regularly. If so, then it might be possible at least to respond to forged emails. Of course the claim that the server has been wiped clean (was that also done with any backups that were created?) suggests that there may not be adequate backups.
Incidentally, depending on how the deletions on the server were done, it might be possible for the email to be recovered by a forensics expert.
What should be done. Unfortunately, nothing can be done to prevent the risks described above. Given that, it’s important to know how real those risks might be. Therefore, I recommend that a forensics investigator be hired to examine the server and any backups and logs that might still exist to see if there may have been a break-in.
Jeremy Epstein is a prominent computer security expert who has recommended a company called Mandiant. (Neither Jeremy nor I have any involvment with Mandiant of any kind, including financial). According to Jeremy, they are frequently brought in after major corporate breakins. They are very discrete and, in his view, competent. I can put anyone who is interested in touch with Jeremy, who lives in Virginia.
In my opinion it is critical that a highly qualified forensics expert examine the system as soon as possible. It is important to know if there may be a problem or if an attack may have occurred, so that there can be a well thought out response prepared beforehand.
Finally, if nothing serious is uncovered by a forensics examination, that does not prove that nothing happened. Regrettably, the absence of proof of a break-in is not proof of the absence of a break-in.
I should have just refreshed.