Friday, September 23, 2016

 

Michelle Obama's passport scan posted online in apparent hack

The White House said on Thursday it was looking into a cyber breach after what appeared to be a scan of first lady Michelle Obama's passport was posted online.

The fresh disclosures, which included emails to and from White House staffers, raised further concerns about thesecurity of sensitive systems following a string of breaches affecting government agencies, private companies and theDemocratic National Committee. Though officials declined to say whether the disclosures were authentic, there were no immediate reasons to suspect they were not.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch said it was "something that we are looking into". The US Secret Service, responsible for the first lady's safety, also expressed concern.

Mrs Obama's information was part of a batch of emails spanning from February 2015 through July 2016 and purportedly hacked from the Gmail account of a White House "advance" staffer, responsible for logistics for official trips. The breach included the photo-and-information page of her passport, including passport number, birthdate and place of birth - most of which is public information.

Josh Earnest, spokesman for the White House, said officials were taking a "close look" at what happened. While emphasising the need for government workers to be cautious with cyber security, he sought to downplay concerns by pointing out that the advance staffer whose email was apparently hacked was a contract worker rather than a permanent member of the president's staff.

"At this point I cannot announce any sort of conclusion that's been reached about the individual or individuals that may have been responsible for the cyber breach that resulted in this information being leaked," Mr Earnest said.

The Secret Service didn't say whether it had opened a formal investigation, but confirmed it was aware of the "alleged email hacking".

"The Secret Service is concerned any time unauthorised information that might pertain to one of the individuals we protect, or our operations, is allegedly disclosed," Cathy Milhoan, Secret Service communications director, said.

The first lady's office declined to comment.

The information was posted on DCLeaks.com, the same website whereformer Secretary of State Colin Powell's private emails were recently disclosed. The site says its goal is to expose the misuse of political power, and has been alleged to be an outlet for hackers tied to Russian intelligence groups.

In another reminder of how pervasive the hacking problem has become, Yahoo said on Thursday that hackers stole personal information from 500 million accounts, including birth dates, hashed passwords and security answers used to verify an accountholder's identity. The internet company attributed the breach to a "state sponsored actor."

Tags : ,

Share

Social

The idea behind the text.
Respect for the truth is almost the basis of all morality.
Nothing can come from nothing.



Popular Topics

Read

Well, the way they make shows is, they make one show. That show's called a pilot. Then they show that show to the people who make shows, and on the strength of that one show they decide if they're going to make more shows.

Like you, I used to think the world was this great place where everybody lived by the same standards I did, then some kid with a nail showed me I was living in his world, a world where chaos rules not order, a world where righteousness is not rewarded. That's Cesar's world, and if you're not willing to play by his rules, then you're gonna have to pay the price.

You think water moves fast? You should see ice. It moves like it has a mind. Like it knows it killed the world once and got a taste for murder. After the avalanche, it took us a week to climb out. Now, I don't know exactly when we turned on each other, but I know that seven of us survived the slide... and only five made it out. Now we took an oath, that I'm breaking now. We said we'd say it was the snow that killed the other two, but it wasn't. Nature is lethal but it doesn't hold a candle to man.

You see? It's curious. Ted did figure it out - time travel. And when we get back, we gonna tell everyone. How it's possible, how it's done, what the dangers are. But then why fifty years in the future when the spacecraft encounters a black hole does the computer call it an 'unknown entry event'? Why don't they know? If they don't know, that means we never told anyone. And if we never told anyone it means we never made it back. Hence we die down here. Just as a matter of deductive logic.