Trump’s “Cyber Czar” Giuliani Had His Passwords Hacked
Donald Trump’s administration is now chock full of verified bigots, Islamophobes and gay bashers. Of course, the electoral college did elect a president who exhibits all of those qualities, so that’s beyond news at this point. There remains a very real question, however, on whether or not the president-elect’s cabinet is competent. Case in point: according to British public television, the president-elect’s cybersecurity adviser had a whole host of internet passwords jacked like a 72-year-old granddad filling out fake online sweepstakes.
Channel 4, the U.K. equivalent of PBS, reported Wednesday that Rudy Giuliani, whom Trump entrusted with leading the nation’s cyber security apparatus, was among several staffers who seem to have lost their passwords to cyberspace. Not only were Mr. Giuliani’s Dropbox, LinkedIn and social media passwords hacked, they were available online to download for a whopping $4 fee.
“The passwords of the appointees were hacked in mass breaches of websites like Dropbox, LinkedIn, MySpace, and others between 2012 and 2016. The passwords are accessible from original leaks of the data, but even more easily accessible from website charging a fee of just $4.”
Yikes. Of course, Mr. Trump has been railing about widespread hacking of the Democratic National Committee, calling the party careless while touting the fact that his people didn’t get hacked because they had tough security. Those statements now fall at the end of Mr. Trump’s long list of bald-faced lies.
Julian Assange said “a 14 year old could have hacked Podesta” – why was DNC so careless? Also said Russians did not give him the info!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2017
Mr. Giuliani, whom cybersecurity experts have called a hack, cites speeches he’s given on hacking as his primary credential for the job. He told Marketwatch last year that the U.S. was behind on its cybersecurity protection.
“I’m concerned as a general matter that the U.S. is behind cyberthieves. American business is behind, and I think that American government is behind,” Giuliani said. “All you have to do is look at the hacking of the Office of Personnel Management. People’s background checks, that’s really sensitive information.”
Apparently business and the American government aren’t the only ones falling behind. Mind you, in the same interview Mr. Giuliani revealed that, as a 72-year-old man, he still believes in “good guys” and “bad guys.” Read it to believe it.
“When we went to talk to the CEOs that we knew, they all told us, “We have companies like that but they make us very nervous because they employ lots of ex-hackers.” Granted, most of them may be reformed. I am more than willing to believe in redemption. But I don’t believe in constructing a whole firm based on a bunch of guys who, I’ve got to be 100% right that they were once crooks and now they’re good guys.”
So what have we learned here? That Mr. Trump’s chosen cybersecurity adviser has the mind of a 12-year-old and the computer skills of a 72-year-old. Nice combo.
