Options for the Hacker

Options for the Hacker. The presence of hackers in our world has changed the nature of communication. It could force us back to paper communication. From a recent report*, Russia is planning to adopt a foolproof means of avoiding global electronic hacking by reverting to paper and typewriters, each having its own signature. Even still, there are non crackable encryption techniques that can work and do work. We just don’t use them. Businesses under fund their IT departments and security personal to save money. But they lose privacy, and privacy is an asset; make no doubt. This is a story to illustrate that making security assumptions at almost all levels is misguided. It is a sad story. Yet, this story should be told.

If you had a number of damaging emails that could be the ruination of a public leader, or anyone else, you have options.

1.       You can release these in the spirit of disclosure of questionable behavior to the citizenry.
2.       You can release them in the interest of doing harm.
3.       You can destroy them, in the interest of keeping public confidence in its leaders, possibly saving your future as well.
4.       You could make them available at private auction.

In the case of the presidential election, it seems that Clinton's emails from several sources may have been hacked. Some have been released. More are promised. What is important is that the emails have not been challenged as bogus even by the senders. Even the Democratic National Committee (DNC) has been hacked, with 20,000 emails released.

It now appears (8/18/2016) the National Security Agency (NSA) has been seriously hacked****. The NSA is the nation’s ultimate security agency for the protection of information. It is also responsible for the USA’s own hacking operations. This is serious. With access to such information as the NSA holds, the hacker knows our most important information secrets.

What we have not seen is any hint of a revelation of emails from Trump and team. Or from the Republican National Committee (RNC). A natural guess suggests that if one could read them, some nasty comments may be found. Have they such advanced security to be non-hackable? In fact, this is likely so. It is not difficult to do if your IT manager manager has basic security skills.

We do not really know the identities of all the hackers, but remember, a significant percentage of hacking arises internally**.

In my days as a low-level administrator, I didn't send any email that I wouldn't mind the world to see. This was a rule of thumb we all used. All the important stuff was done by letter or in private conversations. I guess when you go up the ladder, less discretion is necessary. It is an interesting side note to point out that political party conventions were originally held so that participants could communicate in strict privacy.

What has happened is that perpetrators of the DNC hacks have been first suggested and then determined (I know not how) to rest at the doorstep of Russia, and specifically to Vladimir Putin. Both Wasserman-Schultz and Nancy Pelosi (D) have supported this claim, the latter calling it an “electronic Watergate,” just today for Pelosi (8/11/16)***. Putin has been elevated. I can almost see Vlad saying to his staff, "I can do that?" Putin must be feared by other leaders believing he can do this to them. He is now widely regarded as the most powerful leader in the world, having power he doesn't even have. (But its not what you have in this game, its what they think you have.)

It was Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, who released 20,000 emails from the DNC. This precipitated the fall from power of DNC chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. A few other DNC staffers were also fired. She charges Russians were the perps. The murdered DNC staffer Seth Rich has been cryptically hinted by Assange as the source of emails. Assange is clever; he protects his information with the ultimate threat of a timely release if untoward events occur.

So, it appears there are a load of emails out there. Whose, we don’t know. Will they be released, and if so why are they released?

*https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/11/russia-reverts-paper-nsa-leaks

** http://businessrecord.com/Content/Default/Archives/Article/Internal-hacking-poses-silent-threat-for-companies/-3/988/43875

*** http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/dnc-hack-nancy-pelosi-226903
**** http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/08/17/nsas-website-goes-down-amid-hacking-fears.html

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