“Typo leak” exposes millions of US military emails to Mali web operator • Hacker News Board

Re: “Typo leak” exposes millions of US military emails to Mali web operator

#11

Post by ActionHank » Mon, Jul 17, 2023, 1:26 PM UTC

hamster77 wrote: post #10

TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #6

If .mil is typoed to .ml (Mali), I suppose it's also typoed to .il (Israel), but I imagine that worries the DoD less.

[flagged]

FWIW that didn't read as particularly negatively. US and Israel are military allies, they would worry less about this sort of leak.

Re: “Typo leak” exposes millions of US military emails to Mali web operator

#12

Post by skellyclock » Mon, Jul 17, 2023, 1:27 PM UTC

hamster77 wrote: post #10

TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #6

If .mil is typoed to .ml (Mali), I suppose it's also typoed to .il (Israel), but I imagine that worries the DoD less.

[flagged]

Israel used to be listed as an advanced persistent threat against the United States.

Re: “Typo leak” exposes millions of US military emails to Mali web operator

#13

Post by globalise83 » Mon, Jul 17, 2023, 1:27 PM UTC

Not sure much can be done here short of the US Government hijacking the .ml domain altogether via ICANN, which, if even achievable, would probably cause worse side-effects than the leaking of low-grade intelligence to Mali. Probably the best partial mitigation would be to make it a condition of doing business with the military to put a blocker on all emails to .ml domain, and for all partner militaries to do the same. Still won't prevent every instance, but they can probably prevent 80% of the most sensitive emails by doing this for 20% of people who communicate with them.

Re: “Typo leak” exposes millions of US military emails to Mali web operator

#14

Post by ElectricalUnion » Mon, Jul 17, 2023, 1:39 PM UTC

devrand wrote: post #8

trustingtrust wrote: post #4

A temporary solution would be to block all traffic of email to ml domain on computers and vpn used by the military and respond with an error. If anyone outside military computers and emails is sending such classified information this is a bigger problem and not just a typo issue. Update: missed the part that this is incoming emails problem from non military.

According to the article the issue is non-military originating emails. They used an example of a doctor’s office sending x-rays to a patient but mistyped the TLD.

Weird because the USA top level domain is supposed to be .us, with that being one of the first country code top level domains.

Re: “Typo leak” exposes millions of US military emails to Mali web operator

#15

Post by slavboj » Mon, Jul 17, 2023, 1:43 PM UTC

TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #6

If .mil is typoed to .ml (Mali), I suppose it's also typoed to .il (Israel), but I imagine that worries the DoD less.

Israel conducts a large amount of spying on the USA and exports a large volume of military tech to China, but for domestic political reasons the DoD likes to ignore them as a threat.

Re: “Typo leak” exposes millions of US military emails to Mali web operator

#16

Post by causi » Mon, Jul 17, 2023, 1:57 PM UTC

Am4TIfIsER0ppos wrote: post #7

Conspiracy theory time: deliberate acts to provide Casus Belli for American invasion. Along the lines of Colin Powell's vial of anthrax at the UN or the "baby incubators" statements from a Kuwaiti princess a decade earlier. The article states "closely allied with Russia" and the current establishment desires to punish anyone who doesn't distance themselves from Russia. The emails might be nothing sensitive to the sta…

Why would the US want to invade Mali?

Re: “Typo leak” exposes millions of US military emails to Mali web operator

#17

Post by bloqs » Mon, Jul 17, 2023, 1:59 PM UTC

Am4TIfIsER0ppos wrote: post #7

Conspiracy theory time: deliberate acts to provide Casus Belli for American invasion. Along the lines of Colin Powell's vial of anthrax at the UN or the "baby incubators" statements from a Kuwaiti princess a decade earlier. The article states "closely allied with Russia" and the current establishment desires to punish anyone who doesn't distance themselves from Russia. The emails might be nothing sensitive to the sta…

Hanlon's Razor disagrees

Re: “Typo leak” exposes millions of US military emails to Mali web operator

#18

Post by jabroni_salad » Mon, Jul 17, 2023, 1:59 PM UTC

ElectricalUnion wrote: post #14

devrand wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to the article the issue is non-military originating emails. They used an example of a doctor’s office sending x-rays to a patient but mistyped the TLD.

Weird because the USA top level domain is supposed to be .us, with that being one of the first country code top level domains.

It's my understanding that .gov and .mil were brought over from when those were independent networks, pre-internet.

Re: “Typo leak” exposes millions of US military emails to Mali web operator

#19

Post by InitialLastName » Mon, Jul 17, 2023, 2:00 PM UTC

TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #6

If .mil is typoed to .ml (Mali), I suppose it's also typoed to .il (Israel), but I imagine that worries the DoD less.

That probably happens to some extent, but the .mil -> .il typo is easier to spot (in what is probably a list of addresses) than .mil -> .ml.

Re: “Typo leak” exposes millions of US military emails to Mali web operator

#20

Post by htrp » Mon, Jul 17, 2023, 2:00 PM UTC

@dang.... should probably correct the title to say Typos vs Typo

The current title implies that its a single keystroke misconfiguration that is causing this when instead it's lots of people just not typing the e-mail correctly.