Using email for business affairs or illicit affairs: A lesson from David Petraeus

Security Beacon ^ | 11/13/12 | Security Beacon

[CriticalThinking]

Petraeus could probably have used better technology. Its however safe to assume if you write something in a digital realm, the Federal Government can find it if they want to find it. If you need to be discreet, feel you deserve your privacy, or otherwise want the Government and others to stay away there are some good practices to follow...

[TexasCajun]

From what I read, they didn’t always exchange emails, but would share an email account and leave unsent emails in a ‘draft’ folder for each to read.

[Chuckster]

In today’s world, if you want communications to be private, whisper in her ear - and have her remove any large earrings she may be wearing first.

Anything else can come back to bite you.

[Buckeye McFrog]

AshleyMadison.com adding a private, secure email service in 3.....2......1.......

[verum ago]

From what I read, they didn’t always exchange emails, but would share an email account and leave unsent emails in a ‘draft’ folder for each to read.

Don't know why anyone would think that's anything more than just barely more secure than sending an email. Unless someone goes to lengths to make sure it isn't the case, an email is just a document sitting on a server somewhere. Any logged-in interactions with it can be traced. And unless someone goes to lengths to make sure it isn't the case, a draft email is also just a document sitting on a server...

The only things you can do is encrypt an email enough that the NSA doesn't want to bother with the cpu time to crack it, or to use freakin' one time pads (which are absolutely impossible to crack). Of course, both would just draw attention to you in the first place.

I recommend the more security-conscious method of not getting into an extramarital affair in the first freakin' place, especially if you're the director of a federal agency charged with intelligence.

Terrifying that the head of the CIA was compromised in this manner. If the Russians or Chinese aren't using honey pots right now (unlikely) you can bet they're considering it after this!

[Wiggins]

He should have followed Carlo Gambino practices. Never use a telephone or talk to more than one person at time to avoid corroboration of what was said and if you need to communicate personally have another person do it for you. Above all put nothing in writing that could be used against you.

[verum ago]

In today’s world, if you want communications to be private, whisper in her ear - and have her remove any large earrings she may be wearing first.

Anything else can come back to bite you.

Heck, in today's world, I'd only whisper in her ear if she wasn't wearing earrings at all. Even then it'd be safer if she wasn't wearing clothes (though they seemed to have gotten that part down) and had a shaved head, too.

I'm gonna have to stick with my position that the best security is to not have the affair in the first place.

[Portcall24]

“one time pads”. The U.S. numbers stations are still transmitting 24/7 around the world.

[justice14]

—Don’t know why anyone would think that’s anything more than just barely more secure than sending an email.—

Disagree. It is a lot more protective than actually sending the email. An unsent email is just on that specific site. As soon as it’s sent it gets pinged around everywhere. Terrorists use this method (save as a draft method). It takes the chance of a keyword setting off something at NSA down. Which is better than nothing.

But I agree. The best method is to not get involved in the first place.

[verum ago]

Disagree. It is a lot more protective than actually sending the email. An unsent email is just on that specific site. As soon as it’s sent it gets pinged around everywhere. Terrorists use this method (save as a draft method). It takes the chance of a keyword setting off something at NSA down. Which is better than nothing.

I have little doubt that the Feds, especially the NSA, can break into just about anyone's servers and go looking for their keywords. Frankly, I assume they do it on a regular basis as a matter of routine. That's why I think it's not all that much better than sending the email.

If they don't, then I guess it's significantly more secure than sending the email, but still. There have also been a number of cases recently where it turned out that ISPs and email providers have been cooperating behind the scenes anyway. And can't they still grab it when it's going back forth between the user's computer and the email server?

[E. Pluribus Unum]

At least with http://hushmail.com they might have had a shot at anonymity.

[Paladin2]

Non-verbal communication is the way to go.

[McGruff]

Yo Echelon, check out these emails. This babe is hot to trot.

[patriotsblood]

Just deleted my meager Facebook and MySpace accounts today and unsubscribing from all e-newsletters. Going to be as invisible as I can.

[Grampa Dave]

“Terrifying that the head of the CIA was compromised in this manner. If the Russians or Chinese aren’t using honey pots right now (unlikely) you can bet they’re considering it after this!”

Did Israel Honey Trap David Petraeus?
November 9th, 2012 | Author: Patriot

With the breaking news on General Petraeus (http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/cia-chief-petraeus-resigns-reportedly-over-affair-201305343–politics.html) you might be interested in taking a look at the Mondoweiss.net link (at the following New Statesman article) which broke the story about email exchanges with David Petraeus which US mainstream media ignored as well (as also mentioned on Press TV via http://tinyurl.com/proisraelbiasedmedia & http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEtASJOjDU8).

Or did the ChiComs, Ruskies, Iranian Serial Killers or al Qaeda Honey Trap Petraeus and the latest General:

[justice14]

—I have little doubt that the Feds, especially the NSA, can break into just about anyone’s servers and go looking for their keywords. Frankly, I assume they do it on a regular basis as a matter of routine. That’s why I think it’s not all that much better than sending the email.—

They can and do, but that takes action. Something they don’t like doing and is quite inneffective. They rely on information falling to them normally. This helps them pin point on which emails to hack.

Think about the amount of emails sent daily. They’d have enough trouble sorting through that, let a lone searching through draft folders.

[blackdog]

The first thing my daughter discovered as a law student serving internships at law firms, is that really important and successful lawyers do not use laptops, desktops, or smart phones for anything other than personal matters.

[BuffaloJack]

If you want anonymous then all of your browsing should be using TOR and a TOR browser. If you want anonymous email then use a yahoo mail account with a pseudonym. Yahoo does not require a root or home email address to reference.