2016 Postmortem
Showing Original Post only (View all)No surprise: Tech sites aren't buying DNC hysteria on breech [View all]
I invite you to read and grok the overall reasoning of the commentary:
http://politics.slashdot.org/story/15/12/18/1536245/bernie-sanders-campaign-blocked-from-dnc-voter-info-after-improper-access#comments
Here is how the incident hit the top stories at networkworld.com:
http://www.networkworld.com/article/3017052/security/bernie-sanders-campaign-suspended-dnc-staffer-fired-ngp-van.html
Technologists older than, say, 35 yrs know this pattern well:
1. Person reports vulnerability to company
2. Company ignores report, sweeping it under the rug
3. Person exploits vulnerability, using proof to embarrass company into action
4. Company calls police on person, accuses them of theft
Number 4 very rarely happens anymore, for good reason: IT firms have an unfortunate record of ignoring user-reported vulnerabilities, and the market will eventually turn against companies who try to prosecute or otherwise smear people who hack to inform.
And no, the company ignoring the problem are not strictly entitled to advance notice of the breech/exploit. What counts is that the hacker has a record of reporting vulnerabilities, and did not use the data they gathered.
Like it or not, Clinton fans, that is the current established protocol in IT.
What's clear is that the DNC wasted not a minute in crying Wolf! to the Washington Post. They saw the incident as an instant throw them under the bus opportunity, and are showing (or feigning) an ignorance of the way technology works in this day and age. Both the DNC and the IT vendor are run by veterans of Clinton's mudslinging 2008 campaign; They are not inclined to heed *anything* a Sanders staffer says or does unless they can use it against the Sanders campaign.
What's not so clear but bears pointing out --- Having your own campaign's data sitting exposed is absolutely intolerable. Simply exploiting the situation to gain data from the opposing campaign STILL leaves your data exposed! IOW, what the DNC is charging would be the definition of insanity as it makes zero sense.