back to article Donald Trump running insecure email servers

US presidential candidate Donald Trump’s criticism of rival Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while Secretary of State appeared to have rebounded on him. Security researcher Kevin Beaumont discovered the Trump organisation uses a hopelessly outdated and insecure internet setup. Servers on the Trump Organization' …

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  1. EvilGardenGnome
    Trollface

    A rumble in the distance...

    That sound you hear? It's a multitude of 400lb hackers bouncing up and down on their beds in glee.

    In their honour, forget the popcorn; get the donuts and Mountain Dew.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: A rumble in the distance...

      Hillary Did Nothing Wrong Mountain Dew?

  2. Lusty
    Facepalm

    Firewall you say?

    I've got 17 top of the range firewalls protecting my mail server because it's super secret. All of them have port 25 open and nothing else, so they are very secure indeed...

    1. Simon Harris

      Re: Firewall you say?

      Did he get the Mexicans to pay for it?

      1. Trumpet Winsock IIIrd
        Pint

        Re: Firewall you say?

        Chapeau Sir, and have one of these on me.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Firewall you say?

        No but he has the seven circles of hombres defending it.

    2. macjules
      Thumb Down

      Re: Firewall you say?

      “That's a bit like saying it's okay to install WordPress and leave it unpatched forever because there's a firewall,”

      I think he summed up the attitude of just about every bank in the world. At Deutsche Bank the policy definitely was 'you can do anything, nothing gets past our firewall'.

  3. James 51
    Joke

    How many of them has he deleted?

    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
      Mushroom

      ..and could we maybe discuss Lady McDeath's "stolen emails" instead?

      Yeah, it's fantastic, isn't it:

      US presidential candidate Donald Trump’s criticism of rival Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while Secretary of State appeared to have rebounded on him.

      It's pretty amazing that outright illegal behaviour engaged in while running the State Department, then lying about it, trying to shift the blame to Powell, and getting a free pass by law enforcement is now put on the same level as running an unsecure server when running for president (however ill-suited for that job, but the Clinton-level of "fuck everything that looks female" is there at least)

      Says much about the sewer-grade "news reporting" one gets nowadays.

      I'm actually expecting downvotes by Graun readers and progressive poseurs who can't wait to liberate Aleppo for the children by a no-fly zone.

      1. Kiwi
        Meh

        Re: ..and could we maybe discuss Lady McDeath's "stolen emails" instead?

        It's pretty amazing that outright illegal behaviour engaged in while running the State Department, then lying about it, trying to shift the blame to Powell, and getting a free pass by law enforcement is now put on the same level as running an unsecure server when running for president (however ill-suited for that job, but the Clinton-level of "fuck everything that looks female" is there at least)

        Yes yes.. We all know how much the FBI love left-wing people, especially Shillary HilarityHillary...

        Oh, and as to "...outright illegal behaviour..."... Deleting emails, which the LEO have found no case to answer, or sexual assault of lots of women.. Hmm.. Which is worse.. Deleting some generally unimportant messages, or sexually assaulting someone.. Erm.. Gee, that's a hard one. Oh wait, maybe that's what the problem was..

        Says much about the sewer-grade "news reporting" one gets nowadays.

        Seems about the same level as the US election.. But I'm in the country with TVNZ and their "news", or that prick on one of the other stations in the mornings. The "news" organisations Fox/Daily Mail et all laugh at for their levels of journalistic integrity and accurate reporting! (yes TVNZ, your news sucks beyond imagination!)

        1. Anonymous Coward
          FAIL

          Re: ..and could we maybe discuss Lady McDeath's "stolen emails" instead?

          [quote]Deleting some generally unimportant messages, or sexually assaulting someone.. [/quote]

          Both are illegal. Especially destroying evidence after a subpeona and secondly since wikileaks revealed 2nd in command to US justice dept tipped off Clinton confidante Leon Panetta about the subpeona, its even more illegal.

          When you are subpoenaed, you dont get to pick and chose what evidence you are going to withhold from law enforcement.

          1. oldcoder

            Re: ..and could we maybe discuss Lady McDeath's "stolen emails" instead?

            Depends on the subpoena. Usually it includes words like "related to" or "in association with"...

            In which case it is perfectly legal.

          2. Ammaross Danan

            Re: ..and could we maybe discuss Lady McDeath's "stolen emails" instead?

            Let's not forget the classified nature of many of those emails as well. Storing those outside of government servers alone was "gross mishandling of classified documents" in itself. "Generally unimportant?" Not in the slightest.

            1. Kiwi
              Facepalm

              Re: ..and could we maybe discuss Lady McDeath's "stolen emails" instead?

              "Generally unimportant?" Not in the slightest.

              And yet the findings of the FBI et al was...?

            2. Goopy

              Re: ..and could we maybe discuss Lady McDeath's "stolen emails" instead?

              And let's remember that only two of those emails were found classified Mark erroneously has classified so you're full of crap

  4. Stevie

    Bah!

    Prediction:

    "No-one is more aware of computer security issues than me" Donald Trump

    1. Potemkine Silver badge

      Re: Bah!

      "No-one is more aware of computer security issues than me" Donald Trump

      You forgot the "believe me!" ^^

  5. JEDIDIAH
    Linux

    Thar she blows!

    OK then... where are those nice juicy leaks?

    Why aren't there any embarrassing emails being passed around already?

    1. Mad Chaz

      Re: Thar she blows!

      You mean more embarasing then his public statements? That'll be hard to dig up!

      1. Brewster's Angle Grinder Silver badge

        Re: Thar she blows!

        For Trump, embarrassing would be cogent policy documents, invoices from actresses hired to accuse him of sexual assault and forty years amicable correspondence with a Mexican imam, including an offer to sponsor his citizenship. I'm not holding my breath.

        1. Stevie

          Re: Thar she blows!

          You went too far with "cogent policy documents" there, Mr Grinder. There are limits to how far one can sink, even for Mr Trump.

          1. JEDIDIAH
            Linux

            Re: Thar she blows!

            He actually has public policy positions. Some of them are funny in subtle and not so subtle ways, but he does have them. He's not quite the caricature the media has portrayed him to be.

            Actually the American media reminds me a lot of Internet trolls. Take something, distort it, then pretend that distortion is the truth.

            He's much more of a mundane Republican than he's made out to be.

            1. Number6

              Re: Thar she blows!

              He's much more of a mundane Republican than he's made out to be.

              In which case he needs to fire his entire PR team because they have failed to get that image across.

            2. Goopy

              Re: Thar she blows!

              An alternative fact or alternate fact what was it she said

    2. shanen

      That's because he would rather just blurt it out.

    3. Gerhard Mack

      Re: Thar she blows!

      "Why aren't there any embarrassing emails being passed around already?"

      Funny thing about that.. The Democratic campaign admitted that when their server got hacked the attackers got all of their background research on Trump but somehow none of that got released by Wikileaks so far.

  6. Philip Storry

    It's cool.

    He's got experts - believe him, real experts - looking at this right now. Ten years old, very smart - the smartest - and one might even be eleven.

    *waves tiny hands*

    And unlike Crooked Hillary, The Donald doesn't even know how to delete an email. He just doesn't know. But if he did know, he'd only be deleting emails from those people. You know. Those people.

    *ahem*

    More seriously - even if someone did break into his email, what do you hope to find? All of his bigotry and hatred is on Twitter at 3AM. All of his bankruptcies were public. His sexual assaults are somewhat public. The people he didn't pay for their work are common knowledge right now.

    Oh. I get it. What's the betting at least one mailbox is just full of invoices from the company he stiffed for doing maintenance and upgrades on this system?

    1. Stevie

      Re: It's cool.

      "More seriously - even if someone did break into his email, what do you hope to find?"

      A couple of mails written in Cyrillic would be funny. Or one signed V.P. or "Vlad".

      But I imagine it is mostly Memos to Self from Mimi Ditto.

      1. Flocke Kroes Silver badge

        Re: It's cool.

        One of the things you will not find is an invoice from Paul Manafort. Paul does not charge the Trump campaign for his services, but I doubt that he contributes his time out of the goodness of his heart.

        No need to hunt for clues in Trump's emails. Just check the changes to Republican policy.

    2. Florida1920

      Re: It's cool.

      He's got experts - believe him, real experts - looking at this right now. Ten years old, very smart - the smartest - and one might even be eleven.

      As long as they're small for their age. He won't hire anyone whose hands are bigger than his.

  7. Aaiieeee
    Unhappy

    Buzzwords

    That buzzword filled statement appears to me to be completely meaningless and designed to baffle anyone outside of the IT industry into thinking they are actually secure.

    Its clever because any attempt to explain to anyone about IT security will be met with a yawn and a glazing of the eyes.

    "I'm not interested in facts, dammit!"

  8. cirby

    So...

    Which secure government server is he not using because he wants to hide from FOIA requests? And how much classified information has he leaked?

    Oh, wait- he's not a government employee, and isn't passing around classified material.

    You know, like Hillary was, when she used an insecure server to dodge FOIA laws, and when she put classified information in emails that went through it, instead of using the required government system. And when she deleted tens of thousands of emails AFTER being informed that they were subject to government warrants and such...

    1. Hollerithevo

      Re: So...

      You mean the server Colin Powell approved? And then hastily denied when leaned on? The server she set up BEFORE the rule against them was brought in?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: So...

        No, the other one - the one where she used BleachBit to delete all those emails that the FBI wanted to have a look at ;)

        Of course, the real question now is: does Trump having his own private email server mean that he is less or more qualified to be the next POTUS?

        Or, you know, we could just resign ourselves to the fact that modern politics has the nuance of a cereal box and about as much substance.

        1. Stevie

          Re: So... (BleachBit)

          Isn't it peculiar that 'Hillary' knew so little that 'she' let all those hackers read her emails, yet 'she' knew enough to do a secure delete of "tens of thousands" of emails?

          It's almost as if the 'Hacker' contention isn't true and 'she' (i.e. her IT brigade) knew how to secure a server's contents properly from prying eyes.

          Nah, can't be, right?

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: So...

        The domain, clintonemail.com, was registered on January 13, 2009 -- AFTER she accepted the position of Secretary of State (November 21, 2008), AFTER her appointment was formally announced (December 1, 2008).

        It was apparently registered and set up immediately after she had been through the security training and found out that anything she did on a government account was discoverable.

        The rule against was government use of personal email accounts went into effect in 2005, After Colin Powell, and before Clinton.

        All of these dates are public, verifiable information. You are entitled to your own opinions, but you aren't entitled to your own facts - and the facts don't support your statements.

      3. Eddy Ito

        Re: So...

        You mean the server Colin Powell approved? And then hastily denied when leaned on?

        How could Colin Powell approve anything? He wasn't in government service at the time. Also he had a personal email account, not a server, and this was before the rule was in place. He merely advised the same and as he had not been in government service for four years he may not have been aware of the then new rule.

        The server she set up BEFORE the rule against them was brought in?

        While the server may have been set up before the new rules it has no bearing as she wasn't Secretary of State at the time nor is any earlier data subject to FOIA requests. Note that the new rules were in place when she did become Secretary of State and rather than follow the rules to which she was then subject, she did not.

        1. JEDIDIAH
          Linux

          Re: So...

          Powell can approve of something without being in office. Dems like to excuse Hillary's behavior because Powell thought it was OK. That goes both ways.

      4. steve 124

        Re: So...

        Was there a grandfather clause put into that law that said "well, unless you already have an unsecure server with classified emails on it, in which case carry on"?

        Here's the thing, if you are doing something, and a law against it is passed, you're supposed to stop doing that thing... you know why? Because after the law is made, it's then ILLEGAL!

        Even if Trump hasn't secured his personal email server at all. It only puts him and his business at risk, not American security, lives or national secrets. Believe me.

    2. Blank Reg

      Re: So...

      I find it funny how so far, there isn't any evidence that Hilary's server was hacked or compromised in any way, yet the same can't be said for the official state department servers, not for many other government servers.

      1. Stevie
        Pint

        Re: So...

        You and me both, Reg, you and me both.

      2. david 12 Silver badge

        Re: So...

        ~ The official State Department mail system was / notoriously / a POS.

        It's clear that the Clintons had mastered double-speak long ago. And it's nothing short of ridiculous for her to assert the Trump is unsuitable because of his attitude towards women -- she had her chance to say that long ago when she was supporting a man who put the hard word on one of his interns. But...

        ... of course a technically competant organization with a history of opperating their own mail servers would have prefered that over what the State Department was offering. Yes it was wrong, but it doesn't need any other explanation.

        1. Gerhard Mack

          Re: So...

          "~ The official State Department mail system was / notoriously / a POS."

          As a mail server admin I can guess exactly what they are talking about by the amount of whining about features such as the 1 hour lockout of IPs that get too many bad password attempts By far the largest complaint I get is that my server passwords are "too complicated" meaning I generate them randomly. I have seen people create secure default passwords such as 123456, asdf the company name or even an obfuscated (l33t) version of the username. (Seriously, 3 different workplaces have assigned me the exact same secure password "G3rh4rd") And I don't even deal with a secure environment that requires VPN for email access..

          So all of these politicians do what managers do when faced with an annoyance: they go off and bypass the restrictions by doing their own thing. They go off and hire someone to setup a new user friendly mail server for them only to learn that it's harder than it looks Security? "it has a firewall"

          , document retention? oops. George Bush, Colin Powell, Hillary Clinton: All form of the same techno illiterate stupidity.

    3. Peter X

      Re: So...

      It's not directly comparable to the Hillary thing, but then again, if you're going to run for president and try to give your adversary a hard time over her email indiscretions, then probably the thing you really really want to not screw up on, is your own email set up.

      As we all know here, running out of support software is really not best practice, and is inexcusable if that software is internet connected.

    4. Flocke Kroes Silver badge

      Re: Which server should he have used

      gwb43.com

      Perhaps Donald did hire the best people to set up his emial, but forgot to pay them and they refused to do any updates without payment in advance.

      1. oldcoder

        Re: Which server should he have used

        Since when have Microsoft servers for anything been secure?

        The Windows admins tend not to know much about the fundamentals, much less anything about security.

    5. BlackKnight(markb)

      Re: So...

      just like bush did when the republicans were running the show?

  9. TRT Silver badge

    OK, so this is how I learned about firewalls...

    Hmmm...

    PA-7080. Country of origin: USA

    Type: Hardware

    Year of Manufacture: 2016

    Connections per second: 1,200,000

    Firewall Throughput: 200Gbps

    Max Sessions: 80,000,000

    Base Price: $300,000

    I'm going to pick... price.

    What've you got?

    Sonicwall TZ600 Country of origin: USA

    Type: Hardware

    Year of Manufacture: 2015

    Connections per second: 12,000

    Firewall Throughput: 500Mbps

    Max Sessions: 150,000

    Base Price: $1,800

    Is it lowest wins on price? Highest? Shit. OK. You've won that one too.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    So basically

    His team proved to us with words what we already knew from facts, that they are completly incompetent. Fits with the boss they serve I guess.

  11. MooJohn

    He's just a candidate

    Right now his campaign is run just like a lot of misguided small businesses out there -- just enough IT experience to cause problems. They got email up and running and called it a day when it could send & receive.

    They could have outsourced the whole thing to almost any competent hosting company and they wouldn't have to manage anything themselves. This is a non-story because he's just a regular citizen. That would change if he was holding an elected office, and the criticism and outrage would be justified from that point.

    As others have pointed out: If it's so insecure, where is all the purloined information? You know it would be front page, right next to the articles trying to convince Trump voters to stay home because Hillary has it in the bag already.

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