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posted by cmn32480 on Tuesday October 20 2015, @12:48PM   Printer-friendly
from the people-who-should-know-better dept.

Who the hell still uses AOL? Apparently, CIA boss John Brenner. The New York Post had several phone conversations with an individual who claimed that he gained access to Brenner's email and phone accounts, downloaded a number of classified documents and posted them on Twitter. The hacker identified himself as a high school student, and part of a group called "Crackaz With Attitude".

The FBI and other federal agencies are now investigating the hacker, with one source saying criminal charges are possible, law enforcement sources said.

"I think they'll want to make an example out of him to deter people from doing this in the future," said a source who described the situation as "just wild" and "crazy."

"I can't believe he did this to the head of the CIA,'' the source added. "[The] problem with these older-generation guys is that they don't know anything about cybersecurity, and as you can see, it can be problematic."

Government officials say that the FBI and Secret Service are investigating the matter, but deny that any classified materials were compromised.

The cracker remains at large, for now. He also talked to Wired, providing some detailed information on how he pulled it off.


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  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 20 2015, @02:00PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 20 2015, @02:00PM (#252293)

    There isn't any way you're going to have classified email on an AOL account.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 20 2015, @02:03PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 20 2015, @02:03PM (#252295)

    RTFA: "the spy chief had forwarded them from his work email."

    • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday October 20 2015, @02:11PM

      by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday October 20 2015, @02:11PM (#252299) Journal

      He's kin to Hillary Rodham?

    • (Score: 4, Funny) by SanityCheck on Tuesday October 20 2015, @02:12PM

      by SanityCheck (5190) on Tuesday October 20 2015, @02:12PM (#252301)

      What a dummy! All emails are limited in attachment size now usually to 25 MBs only. If he wanted to access them at home he should have just dropped the files in his cloud account instead! Like Dropbox, or Google Drive, or Baidu. Then he can access them anywhere, from any device. And they are in the cloud so he will never lose access to it!

    • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 20 2015, @02:39PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 20 2015, @02:39PM (#252311)

      Again, unless you're talking about FOUO, or perhaps similar to HRC, something that wasn't classified at the time, he can't forward classified email to an AOL account.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 20 2015, @04:27PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 20 2015, @04:27PM (#252355)

        +1 correct

      • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Tuesday October 20 2015, @06:48PM

        by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday October 20 2015, @06:48PM (#252415) Journal

        Well, you should actually say "shouldn't be able to". He's a bureau chief, and may well be able to do things he shouldn't be able to do.

        OTOH, unless he intentionally took steps to allow it he probably couldn't forward the classified email. Probably. So it's reasonable to suppose that he didn't.

        --
        Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 20 2015, @09:17PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 20 2015, @09:17PM (#252470)

          He did, however, have his entire 42-page SF86 form in that account - it is the document used to apply for a security clearance and thus contains tons of background information on him.