Journalists lack of comsec has always been the weakest link of unauthorized disclosures. Worse is the more pervasive comsec lack by the lazy overly privileged and coddled publishing industry: publishers, attorneys, permanent and temporary staff, janitors, visitorsm, messengers, wives and husbands, children and friends asked to guide parents with computers, housekeepers, ISPs, cellphone providers and those pesky pests, insiders and black-baggers working the industry since it was created and sustained to be all too trustworthy by spies and sources. The miscreants deserve Scarlet Letters, since they seldom risk punishment, not for publishing courage but for comsec negligence and a persistent flood of leaks for which they put others at risk with callous indifference bred by arrogance and constitutional protection. Assange made four comsec mistakes: trusting new staff and fair weather friends, believing best friends in the press would protect him, believing confidential lawyers, then believing national leaders -- all of them major leakers, social engineers and targets of spies. What Lamo social engineered out of Manning is kid stuff by comparison for the industries that thrive and get rich on siphoning and leaking information. Never communicate with a member of the media, legal and political gangs who will sacrifice you and avidly exploit your cowering in a bolt hole or molderng at Leavenworth and eagerly expect lengthy trials for more gush and actionable intelligence on supporters, protestors, bloggers, journos, and us blathering here and where else but Tor, the biggest honey trap since religion. At 04:09 AM 10/24/2012, Eugen Leitl wrote:
----- Forwarded message from frank@journalistsecurity.net -----
From: frank@journalistsecurity.net Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2012 21:38:16 -0700 To: liberationtech <liberationtech@lists.stanford.edu> Subject: [liberationtech] Federal interception of CIA emails to journalists, and journalists emails to legal team User-Agent: Workspace Webmail 5.6.26 Reply-To: liberationtech <liberationtech@lists.stanford.edu>
This case seems to be of value to the list. Ex-CIA Officer John Kiriakou on Tuesday pleaded guilty to disclosing the name of a CIA figure to former ABC News journalist Matthew Cole. The indictment against Kiraiakou released in April indicated that Federal authorities had obtained emails between Kiriakou and three journalists including Cole and another ABC News journalist along with Scott Shane of The New York Times. The indictment also indicates that authorities intercepted a subsequent email by Cole (with information from Kiriakou) to a defense investigator with attorneys for terror suspects being held in Guantanamo.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/24/us/former-cia-officer-pleads-guilty-in-lea... http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2012/04/more-journalists-linke...
No case better underscores the need for U.S. journalists covering national security to start practicing digital security. More information may or may not become available. I'd welcome any thoughts here. Thank you. Frank
Frank SmythExecutive DirectorGlobal Journalist Securityfrank@journalistsecurity.netTel. + 1 202 244 0717Cell + 1 202 352 1736Twitter: @JournoSecurityWebsite: www.journalistsecurity.netPGP Public KeyPlease consider our Earth before printing this email. Confidentiality Notice: This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential. If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender and delete this message and any copies. If you are not the intended recipient, you are notified that disclosing, copying, distributing or taking any action in reliance on the contents of this information is strictly prohibited.
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----- End forwarded message ----- -- Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org ______________________________________________________________ ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820 http://www.ativel.com http://postbiota.org 8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A 7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE