tons of Secret emails Addressed to the US military instead it was delivered to the Mali junta through the mistake of a insignificant typo. To report the news financial times Which indicates that hundreds of thousands of highly sensitive files including diplomatic documents, senior officers’ travel itineraries, tax returns and passwords have ended up in the hands of African country Now very close to Russia.
A known bug 10 years ago
But how could the most powerful country in the world make such a huge mistake? The catch is located in the suffix at the end of email addresses. The American domain uses the wording .mil Instead, email has been sent for years even to addresses ending in .ml That is, the country identifier for Financial.
The truth takes on more exotic limits if one considers that the thing has been known for at least a decade. The defect was identified by Dutch businessman Johannes Zurber. The same applies to the management contract for the national domain of Mali.
Since January, the businessman has filed and collected approx 117,000 connections In an attempt to persuade countries to take the problem seriously. In July, Zurber took further action by sending an email to the US device that read: “The danger of this information being exploited by enemies of the United States is real and real.”
The danger is not only real, but also imminent, in fact, in the short term, the suffix management license will expire and control of the domain will automatically end under the government of Mali, a known ally of the Russian Federation. So the junta will be able to put emails on this message Information mine without firing a shot. the times It reported that in the face of this possibility, the Malian government did not want to make any statements.
Zurber, who is the chief executive of the Amsterdam-based Financial Daily, has repeatedly tried to reach out to everyone in Washington, from ordinary US officials to the national cybersecurity adviser and, finally, to senior officers in the White House.
It must be said that out of more than 100,000 emails, many of them are considered spam and none of the data is marked as confidential. However, some messages contain some sensitive data US military personnel and their families.
We’re talking X-rays, medical data, identification documents, lists of personnel on military bases or on board Navy ships, maps, photos of bases and facilities, naval inspection reports, contracts, criminal complaints against the military, internal bullying investigations, and officer travel itineraries.
“The possibility of creating a hostile strategy thanks to this information”
to explain it Mike Rogersa retired major general and former executive of the National Security Agency and the Command of All Unified Electronic Defenses, who said: “Prolonged access to this kind of information, even if it is not classified, can still create strategy and intelligence.” The general continues “It is not strange that mistakes are made. What is meant is the duration, scope and sensitivity of the stolen data.”
Sticky matter for Stars and Stripes devices. Would this be the time to listen to the overlooked Johannes Zurber?
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