Cankles Email server was wide open to hackers

Good day all. The drip, drip, drip of the Clinton email scandal continues. Tuesday, (October 13), just before the Great Democrat Debate, (yawn), news came out that Cankles mail server had less security on it than an unguarded Brinks truck with the doors wide open, full og money and a sign saying “Help yourself.”

We’ve already seen reports from “Unnamed Sources close to the investigation” that there had been several runs made at Cankles server. Now, it’s gotten worse. Here are the details from PBS:

The private email server running in Hillary Rodham Clinton’s home basement when she was secretary of state was connected to the Internet in ways that made it more vulnerable to hackers, according to data and documents reviewed by The Associated Press.

Clinton’s server, which handled her personal and State Department correspondence, appeared to allow users to connect openly over the Internet to control it remotely, according to detailed records compiled in 2012. Experts said the Microsoft remote desktop service wasn’t intended for such use without additional protective measures, and was the subject of U.S. government and industry warnings at the time over attacks from even low-skilled intruders.

The left the ports open to allow an unsecured RDP, (Remote Desktop Protocol), session? That is the first thing I lock down on ANY system I run. I also use tools that do not require the RDP service, so that is deactivated on my systems. Leaving that protocol open to the internet is to a hacker who find it the same as bending over in a prison shower while resting a jar of Vaseline on on your back.

Records show that Clinton additionally operated two more devices on her home network in Chappaqua, New York, that also were directly accessible from the Internet. One contained similar remote-control software that also has suffered from security vulnerabilities, known as Virtual Network Computing, and the other appeared to be configured to run websites.

We know that Cankles is a liar when she talked about how many devices she was using. (As well as her lies about everything else) I am curious to know who was using the RDP system? Somehow, I don’t think it Clinton, who can’t even use a fax machine, was remoting into the server. I suspect it was whoever set that disaster up in the first place. Since they are now saying that the other systems were also configured by Bozo the clown, the moron probably didn’t know how to set up a secure server, or the Clintons couldn’t be bothered to get a security certificate and set up a VPN system.

The new details provide the first clues about how Clinton’s computer, running Microsoft’s server software, was set up and protected when she used it exclusively over four years as secretary of state for all work messages.

Obviously, these systems weren’t protected at all. I’m curious on the “Microsoft Software” they’re talking about. Were the Clintons running exchange servers? I’m sure we’ll find out eventually.

Clinton’s privately paid technology adviser, Bryan Pagliano, has declined to answer questions about his work from congressional investigators, citing the U.S. Constitution’s Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination.

Yeah, I would also cite the 5^th just to keep from admitting what an incompetent idiot I was if I set up systems that badly locked down. In any case, Cankles continues to deny that she did anything wrong, and if sh did, then nothing secret was ever posted on her servers.

Clinton has apologized for running her homebrew server, and President Barack Obama said during a “60 Minutes” interview Sunday it was “a mistake.” Obama said national security wasn’t endangered, although the FBI still has yet to complete its review of Clinton’s server for evidence of hacking.

Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon said late Monday that “this report, like others before it, lacks any evidence of an actual breach, let alone one specifically targeting Hillary Clinton. The Justice Department is conducting a review of the security of the server, and we are cooperating in full.”

Let’s see, first there was no classified data sent through that server, and now they are pushing the “There is no proof that the server was hacked.” garbage. Allow me to explain something to the dumbass. A good hack won’t leave any traces that it happened, or traces that are very hard to detect. With the latest information that the servers had the RDP service opened to the internet, you can rest assured someone probably got into it and raped the systems of everything, including pictures of Hillary Rodham Clinton in Yoga pants.

Remote-access software allows users to control another computer from afar. The programs are usually operated through an encrypted connection — called a virtual private network, or VPN. But Clinton’s system appeared to accept commands directly from the Internet without such protections.

“That’s total amateur hour,” said Marc Maiffret, who has founded two cyber security companies. He said permitting remote-access connections directly over the Internet would be the result of someone choosing convenience over security or failing to understand the risks. “Real enterprise-class security, with teams dedicated to these things, would not do this,” he said.

Just how badly configured were these servers and what was the skill level needed to crack them like an egg? Here’s what the Government reported.

“An attacker with a low skill level would be able to exploit this vulnerability,” said the Homeland Security Department’s U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team in 2012, the same year Clinton’s server was scanned.

So, we aren’t looking for some high end computer programmer and systems engineer here. Pretty much any script kiddie in his, or her, parents basement can get the tools to scan and break into a server set up as the Clinton’s was. (Stay tuned for Cankles in Yoga pants!)

Also in 2012, the State Department had outlawed use of remote-access software for its technology officials to maintain unclassified servers without a waiver. It had banned all instances of remotely connecting to classified servers or servers located overseas.

If I recall correctly, that included even VPN tunnels as well, but I could be mistaken. Still, locking out RDP connections from unencrypted connections is pretty standard these days. Usually the only time you would see RDP active is on internal systems completely firewalled from the Internet. (Such as connecting with a client from your office to a server in the next room)

The findings suggest Clinton’s server “violates the most basic network-perimeter security tenets: Don’t expose insecure services to the Internet,” said Justin Harvey, the chief security officer for Fidelis Cybersecurity.

The basic rule I’ve always followed is “When in doubt, lock it down. Come back later if there is a need to unlock something.” This usually drives programmers nuts since they now have to actually write applications that run in a secure environment.

Mikko Hypponen, the chief research officer at F-Secure, a top global computer security firm, said it was unclear how Clinton’s server was configured, but an out-of-the-box installation of remote desktop would have been vulnerable. Those risks — such as giving hackers a chance to run malicious software on her machine — were “clearly serious” and could have allowed snoops to deploy so-called “back doors.”

God save me from out of the box set ups using the Microsoft defaults. I have literally spent months at Real World Jobs cleaning up systems that were set up using the Microsoft minimum standards. When I’ve had to set up a system and there is no protocol written up, I sit down and determine what it will do and what it actually needs, then install the minimum features needed to get the job done. And don’t forget patching the damn things. Patches usually fix holes people have found and reported to Microsoft.

All this is just more icing n a very big cake. Hillary Clinton has been caught with classified and top secret data on an unsecured system in violation of pretty much everything. She has been caught lying about it and continues to lie about it. If it were anyone else but Hillary Rodham Clinton, he, or she, would already be under arrest and awaiting a criminal trial. Hopefully, the FBI will not let Cankles position prevent them from throwing the book at her.

I suspect this is one reason she’s still walking around without an ankle bracelet on is the FBI is taking their time and doing it by the book. If they go after her, they want her locked away and not released in some technicality. It would be nice if they bust her just before she walked onto the stage to accept the Democrat nomination, but that’s just a dream.

Thatisall

~The Angry Webmaster~

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