“Typo leak” exposes millions of US military emails to Mali web operator
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Re: “Typo leak” exposes millions of US military emails to Mali web operator
#2Re: “Typo leak” exposes millions of US military emails to Mali web operator
#3> Zuurbier has been collecting misdirected emails since January in an effort to persuade the US to take the issue seriously. He holds close to 117,000 misdirected messages — almost 1,000 arrived on Wednesday alone. In a letter he sent to the US in early July, Zuurbier wrote: “This risk is real and could be exploited by adversaries of the US.”
> Control of the .ML domain will revert on Monday from Zuurbier to Mali’s government, which is closely allied with Russia. When Zuurbier’s 10-year management contract expires, Malian authorities will be able to gather the misdirected emails. The Malian government did not respond to requests for comment.
Oops.
Re: “Typo leak” exposes millions of US military emails to Mali web operator
#4A 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.
Re: “Typo leak” exposes millions of US military emails to Mali web operator
#5A 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.
It sounds like they already do:
> He said that emails sent directly from the .mil domain to Malian addresses “are blocked before they leave the .mil domain and the sender is notified that they must validate the email addresses of the intended recipients”.
One of the examples is a hotel booking confirmation, which would come from a third party.
Re: “Typo leak” exposes millions of US military emails to Mali web operator
#6If .mil is typoed to .ml (Mali), I suppose it's also typoed to .il (Israel), but I imagine that worries the DoD less.
Re: “Typo leak” exposes millions of US military emails to Mali web operator
#7Conspiracy 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 state but they can just lie and say "Mali is deliberately intercepting emails meant for the military". Well that wouldn't even be a lie because someone did set up something to catch emails going to dot-ml which were meant for dot-mil.
A nice war helps also helps with elections at home.
Re: “Typo leak” exposes millions of US military emails to Mali web operator
#8A 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.
Re: “Typo leak” exposes millions of US military emails to Mali web operator
#9Conspiracy 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…
I would put my money on a junior enlisted / junior officer not paying attention when they type the email to book their hotel over a government conspiracy to generate a Casus Belli to invade Mali of all places.
Re: “Typo leak” exposes millions of US military emails to Mali web operator
#10If .mil is typoed to .ml (Mali), I suppose it's also typoed to .il (Israel), but I imagine that worries the DoD less.
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