31 August 2016
For better security, break out the typewriter and stay off the ‘net
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s honchos wanted their advice to Democratic candidates for dealing with Black Lives Matter to be held closely:
This document should not be emailed or handed to anyone outside of the building. Please only give campaign staff these best practices in meetings or over the phone.
But, as reported today by the Huffington Post, the two-page memorandum was stored on a server that got hacked. Now the whole world knows just how wary of BLM the DCCC was (and probably still is).
The DCCC’s advice was sound. Will the revelation do damage beyond causing a bit of embarrassment? Not much, if any, most likely.
But there’s a security lesson for all in this incident. Store sensitive messages on your server only if they are strongly encrypted. And if something must be very closely held, write it on a computer that’s never connected to the internet, print it, overwrite the electronic original, and store the paper copies in a ten-ton safe inside a bombproof bunker surrounded by razor wire and armed guards, just like in the old days.