Surprise: Cybersecurity Deteriorated Under Hillary Clinton

In an Associated Press exclusive, Ken Dilanian notes just how bad cybersecurity was during Hillary’s tenure as Secretary of State. The article is primarily published in local news sites, though the NY TImes does have it as a web only piece, not in their published paper. Other national news outlets, such as ABC, NBC, CBS, Washington Post, MSNBC, for instance? Not at this time

(AP) The State Department was among the worst agencies in the federal government at protecting its computer networks while Hillary Clinton was secretary from 2009 to 2013, a situation that continued to deteriorate as John Kerry took office and Russian hackers breached the department’s email system, according to independent audits and interviews.

The State Department’s compliance with federal cybersecurity standards was below average when Clinton took over but grew worse in each year of her tenure, according to an annual report card compiled by the White House based on audits by agency watchdogs. Network security continued to slip after Kerry replaced Clinton in February 2013, and remains substandard, according to the State Department inspector general.

In each year from 2011 to 2014, the State Department’s poor cybersecurity was identified by the inspector general as a “significant deficiency” that put the department’s information at risk. The latest assessment is due to be published in a few weeks.

The State Dept is unhappy with the assessment, and yammers on about being almost 100% secure, so, a bit of CYA, rather than putting the effort in to actually resolving the issues. They had been warned numerous times by Inspector Generals of the deficiencies of the system.

Clinton approved significant increases in the State Department’ information technology budgets while she was secretary, but senior State Department officials say she did not spend much time on the department’s cyber vulnerabilities. Her emails show she was aware of State’s technological shortcomings, but was focused more on diplomacy.

She failed at the diplomacy part, too. But, hey, perhaps this is the reason she put together a homebrew server in violation of State Department and federal government regulations

Emails released by the State Department from her private server show Clinton and her top aides viewed the department’s information technology systems as substandard and worked to avoid them.

“State’s technology is so antiquated that NO ONE uses a State-issued laptop and even high officials routinely end up using their home email accounts to be able to get their work done quickly and effectively,” top Clinton aide Ann-Marie Slaughter wrote in an email to Clinton on June 3, 2011.

You can almost understand why Hillary did what she did. Of course, it’s a big jump from using typical private email systems, such as Yahoo or Google, or government email, which are both rather insecure and vulnerable (and many keep all your information), to running a homebrew server that had virtually no security, and was much, much worse than private and government programs.

Supposedly, State’s system used for disseminating classified/sensitive information was very good. Yet, Hillary still chose to use her terrible homebrew server. Using your own server, interestingly, is a recommendation from many cybersecurity experts for secure email, but, that’s for you an me, who won’t be targeted by hackers from intelligence agencies around the world, and would have actual security measures implemented. Hillary could have used multiple email systems, such as ProtonMail or others. Even Yahoo would have been more secure.

Rather than work to fix the problems, Hillary abdicated her role and used an even worse system. This is who Democrats want for president.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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13 Responses to “Surprise: Cybersecurity Deteriorated Under Hillary Clinton”

  1. drowningpuppies says:

    Her emails show she was aware of State’s technological shortcomings, but was focused more on diplomacy soliciting bribes from foreign entities for the Clinton mafia.

  2. Jeffery says:

    In fact, Clinton is the odds on favorite to be your next President, even as the Repubic party abuses their government power to attack her.

    Benghazi! Emails!

  3. drowningpuppies says:

    Rrŕright!

    http://ace.mu.nu/archives/Hillary!.jpg

  4. jl says:

    Good one, J, because the libturds never abused government power to attack Bush. Plamegate! WMDs! Everything!

  5. Jeffery says:

    And here I thought conservatives were better than liberals. According to you they’re at least as bad.

    Let’s see. Under the Repube watch 3000 Americans died from a terrorist attack in NYC, then they compounded that by sending thousands more to their deaths and disability in Iraq, then they compounded that by torturing captives. They kept us safe! (except for 9/11 and Iraq). Even the new leader of the Repube Party (D. Trump) recognizes these facts.

    Wasn’t it a Repuke member (Armitage) of the Bush admin that leaked Plame’s status? And wasn’t Cheney Sr. aide Scooter Libby convicted of a cover up? That was Bush’s own DOJ, not the Dems.

    And not once did the Dems pull the Repube presidential hopefuls before Congress.

    Even the Repubics admit that the Benghazi! witch hunt is a Benghazi!! witch hunt.

  6. drowningpuppies says:

    You’re a real hoot tonight.
    Please tell us how Reagan invaded Panama.

  7. david7134 says:

    Jeff,
    I have often wondered why you constantly lie. Is it that you really don’t know the truth? Is that part of your issue with knowledge and critical thinking? The people in the towers died as a direct result of the actions of the Clinton White House. If you don’t know that, then you need to refresh your history. If you don’t know that then you truly are an adolescent. Anyone who was awake during the period knows that Clinton took away the power of the FBI to be aware of CIA activity and knowledge, thus he personally killed the people in New York and Washington with his incompetence. I don’t defend Bush, he was a flaming liberal, but blame does need to been placed in the proper sphere. Then as to Iraq, I remember that the Dems roundly supported the actions there, so Bush was not the only stupid individual in Washington. In fact, we can also lay the blame for the world banking crisis at the feet of Barney Frank and Clinton as well.

    Now, as to Hillary, it seems likely that Biden will enter the race. He has kept Obama’s back, despite Obama being the worst president in our history. He will be rewarded for his loyalty, which means Hillary goes to jail, which is were she belonged years ago.

  8. Jeffery says:

    dave,

    I’m familiar with the right-wing fantasy that responsibility skips an administration or two, as needed. Translation: Republicans good; Democrats bad.

    The economic rebound during Clinton’s term was Reagan’s doing. The huge deficits and debt run up during Reagan’s term was Carter’s fault, or Clinton’s, just not St. Reagan’s. 9/11 was Clinton’s fault. The housing boom and bust and meltdown was Obama’s responsibility, and Clinton’s (actually, partly true!). Our Commander in Chief at the time didn’t invade Iraq, the Democrats in Congress did!

    Put Hillary in Jail! (What’s the charge?)

  9. david7134 says:

    Jeff,
    Sorry, but your whole comment does not make sense. Again, learn to take a critical look at the whole issue, not just what you want to see.

    Hillary goes to jail for:
    Obstruction
    Perjury
    Destruction of evidence
    Sale of influence
    Being a bitch

  10. david7134 says:

    Oh, I forgot the security issue, whatever they call that crime, can’t seem to bring up the term.

  11. Jeffery says:

    dave,

    I didn’t even know she had been charged with those crimes, much less convicted!

    But being a bitch isn’t a crime anyway, otherwise you’d be typing from prison.

    Conservatives, Repubs, white supremacists and the media hate Bill and Hillary Clinton and, of course, Al Gore. Always have, always will. While you and yours were screaming about Mexicans, Muslims, gays, emails and Benghazi!, the Dems were discussing the middle class, healthcare, and bad “trade” deals. Clinton’s poll numbers shot up 10 points.

    The conservative concern shouldn’t be about Clinton, she’ll be your next prez, but the cons will lose seats in the House and possibly lose control in the Senate (where the Dem Vice-President will cast deciding votes). Who knows, maybe the Repub voters will elect some reasonable people in 2016.

  12. david7134 says:

    Jeff,
    Gee, we can now add lack of knowledge of the criminal justice system to your long list of don’t know a thing about. And, yes, we hate the Clintons as they are allowed to subvert the law, consistently, and the poor idiots like yourself keep voting for them.

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