The DNC data breach

If you believe the Sanders camp, this sounds a lot like the Instagram bug bounty issue [1] that appeared on HN recently. Someone from the Sanders campaign identified a bug and to prove their was an issue grabbed private data that they should have never had the ability to access. That is questionable ethically whether they looked at the data or not. The DNC also can't immediately tell if it is the truth or if the data was taken maliciously. Given that, I don't think it is unreasonable to temporarily shut out the Sander campaign until it was fixed. Although if I was in charge, I would shut out all campaigns until the matter is fully investigated. It isn't fair to disable one campaign if there was nothing malicious happening. (Never mind, see edit)

EDIT: Actually on seconding reading the Sander's lockout was not for security reasons and was only done by the DNC in awaiting full details from the campaign. In that instance it wouldn't make sense to suspend any other campaign's access. They are punishing the Sanders campaign in hopes that it causes a quick confession of the exact details of what data the campaign accessed and retained. I still don't think that response is as unreasonable as some Sander supporters are alleging.

[1] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10754194

Re: The DNC data breach

#7

Post by diyorgasms » Fri, Dec 18, 2015, 10:15 PM UTC

justinzollars wrote: post #4

I'm sure Sanders was just polling well, and this is the perfect opportunity for the DNC to pull the rug out under his campaign. NGP-VAN is crap hack software anyways.

Right? Bernie just got some endorsements (which he has been sorely lacking), and all of a sudden this company (the CEO of which is a public Clinton supporter) has a problem that affects the Sanders campaign but not the Clinton campaign, on word from the company that there was a bad actor in the Sanders campaign but not the Clinton campaign.

Sure it's possible that the Sanders campaign did exploit this and the Clinton campaign did not. But I'm skeptical as hell given the political allegiances of the company's leadership.

Re: The DNC data breach

#8

Post by gingerrr » Fri, Dec 18, 2015, 10:15 PM UTC

Zikes wrote: post #3

digitalzombie wrote: post #2

That bug seems to be setting back Bernie Sanders, which sucks. The media going to have a field day with this.

Well, at least the media blackout is over.

Right? I thought I was still asleep when I opened the news to see a Sanders headline, until I read the story

Re: The DNC data breach

#9

Post by Zikes » Fri, Dec 18, 2015, 10:17 PM UTC

slg wrote: post #6

If you believe the Sanders camp, this sounds a lot like the Instagram bug bounty issue [1] that appeared on HN recently. Someone from the Sanders campaign identified a bug and to prove their was an issue grabbed private data that they should have never had the ability to access. That is questionable ethically whether they looked at the data or not. The DNC also can't immediately tell if it is the truth or if the data…

Because of the audit, they were quickly able to identify who was accessing data they shouldn't have been able to access. Presumably the temporary lockout is not to prevent further data breaches, as that bug was already fixed, but to minimize the potential damage of the data breach they did identify.

Re: The DNC data breach

#10

Post by morninj » Fri, Dec 18, 2015, 10:20 PM UTC

diyorgasms wrote: post #7

justinzollars wrote: post #4

I'm sure Sanders was just polling well, and this is the perfect opportunity for the DNC to pull the rug out under his campaign. NGP-VAN is crap hack software anyways.

Right? Bernie just got some endorsements (which he has been sorely lacking), and all of a sudden this company (the CEO of which is a public Clinton supporter) has a problem that affects the Sanders campaign but not the Clinton campaign, on word from the company that there was a bad actor in the Sanders campaign but not the Clinton campaign. Sure it's possible that the Sanders campaign did exploit this and the Clinton…

Having actually used NGP-VAN, I think it's far more likely that this was a bug, not a conspiracy. The VAN is a real clunker in many ways, so it's not surprising that a bug like this would appear; and public exposure of a conspiracy to sabotage Sanders would be so catastrophic to the Clinton campaign that I think it's highly unlikely that NGP-VAN would do it.