Donald Trump's email servers are not secure
Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump has a worryingly insecure internet setup.
Websites representing Trump's organization - his hotels, golf courses, realty business, and more - are all running internet server technology that's riddled with holes, according to a security architect speaking with Vice's Motherboard.
The news might not be such a big deal in another election, but Trump has repeatedly leaned into his opponent, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, for her use of an insecure private email server while serving as Secretary of State.
"Running outdated software and operating systems for your publicly facing email infrastructure is problematic, especially when you're a high profile organization," security architect Kevin Beaumont told Motherboard. Beaumont is the man who discovered the holes in the Trump organization's internet security.
He first tweeted about the holes on October 17:
Quick update on Trump corp email servers - all internet accessible, single factor auth, no MDM, Win2003, no security patching. pic.twitter.com/nIMTa9UmdL
- Kevin Beaumont (@GossiTheDog) October 17, 2016
"During an election where cybersecurity is such a big issue, I was a little amazed at what I saw," he said.
More problematically, the internet security holes in Trump's organization also affect email servers; in several instances, email servers of Trump's are running software that has reached "end-of-life" status - the company that originally made said software (Microsoft in this case) will no longer issue security patches and updates. And that leaves it vulnerable to attack.
Due to the age of the software and the setup of the system, the Trump organization isn't using industry-standard safety measures like two-factor authorization, which enables users to confirm authenticity through their mobile phone (or another third-party factor).
- A centenarian who starts her day with gentle exercise and loves walks shares 5 longevity tips, including staying single
- A couple accidentally shipped their cat in an Amazon return package. It arrived safely 6 days later, hundreds of miles away.
- FSSAI in process of collecting pan-India samples of Nestle's Cerelac baby cereals: CEO
- 7 Nutritious and flavourful tiffin ideas to pack for school
- India's e-commerce market set to skyrocket as the country's digital economy surges to USD 1 Trillion by 2030
- Top 5 places to visit near Rishikesh
- Indian economy remains in bright spot: Ministry of Finance
- A surprise visit: Tesla CEO Elon Musk heads to China after deferring India visit