The White House email controversy:
hearings spotlight disturbing IT practices
Palm Bay, FL—ZATZ Publishing is please to announce the publication of our latest Special Report: The White House email controversy: hearings spotlight disturbing IT practices.
Authored by David Gewirtz, ZATZ Editor-in-Chief and the author of Where Have All The Emails Gone?, this latest Special Report provides a detailed analysis and point-counterpoint to the recent declaration by the White House Chief Information Officer in response to a court order by U.S. Magistrate Judge M. Facciola.
Sadly, the report also details two new serious security risks at the White House found by Gewirtz in his investigation.
The 5,473 word report explores the following issues:
* Magistrate Judge Facciola is asking questions about what happened from people who weren't there when whatever happened, happened.
* The White House claims there are no PCs at the White House older than three years.
* Old hard drives were destroyed somewhere, but the White House doesn't say where.
* Portable data storage, available in sizes up to a terabyte, are completely unaccounted for at the White House, and there is no process in place for managing what happens to all that portable data.
* Lack of management for portable data storage presents a tremendous security risk.
* We can't be sure exactly what data was preserved when computers were upgraded.
* The White House claims there's no record of what computer is where.
* If they don't know where their computers are, how do they know that the ones from 2003-2005 have been destroyed?
* Not knowing where computers are poses another severe security risk at the White House.
The report also details, in-depth, how the White House's objections to the Court's order can be overcome. In particular, the report discusses:
* Making forensic copies does take time, but it's not hard at all.
* Avoid disturbing workers by doing forensic backup work at night.
* They can probably create forensic copies for well less than Payton claims.
If anything, the White House statements this week have reinforced once again just how important David's recommendations in Where Have All The Emails Gone? are. Those six steps may be the only path that will prevent the problems we seem to be constantly discovering from happening with future administrations.
To arrange an interview or to further discuss the disturbing issues brought up by the hearings, email Denise Amrich at denise@ZATZ.com or call (321) 722-4620. Please include your complete contact information, including phone.
If you wish to reprint this Special Report, excerpt it, or have David contribute an original column to your publication or broadcast, please contact Denise for possible availability.
David Gewirtz has written more than 600 articles about email, collaboration, and mobile technology. As one of America's foremost email experts, he's been able to do unprecedented forensics research. As the editor of the two leading magazines on the email technologies used at the White House, he has the expertise necessary to see and explain all sides of the issue, provide workable, non-partisan solutions, and make it understandable to everyone.
Additional resources
Where Have All The Emails Gone? is the most comprehensive analysis of White House email ever published, reads like a thriller, and ends with six very doable recommendations that can quickly and easily bring security and safety back to White House email.
The book's Web site http://www.EmailsGone.com contains a complete resource center with original documentation, source material, and forensic artifacts used in the investigation. The $19.95 book is available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/0945266200.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2007937415
ISBN (10-digit): 0-945266-20-0
ISBN (13-digit): 978-0-945266-20-4
About ZATZ Publishing
ZATZ Publishing is a leading publisher of special-interest online magazines and books for technical consumers and IT professionals. ZATZ publishes popular magazines, including OutlookPower Magazine, DominoPower Magazine, Computing Unplugged Magazine, Connected Photographer Magazine, and WebSpherePower Magazine. Together, these publications have nearly one million readers and are the leading monthly magazines in their markets.
Some good did come out of the hearings. There is a lot more technical information now available about what's going on, at least on the White House side of the missing email question. David will be reviewing that information in-depth over the next week and reporting on it in detail.
Some of that technical detail, though, confirmed our worst fears.
Most disturbing from a technical perspective, we learned that the bulk of the White House email records are now stored in bundles of rotting PST files, all at or above their safe file size limit. That the White House uses piles of these files as their archiving methodology is ludicrous. This is an industry worst-practice.
Other problems include:
* Both the White House and certain Congress members are dangerously mischaracterizing IBM Lotus Notes as an obsolete technology, providing a seemingly plausible but completely misleading justification for an unfounded migration during a time of war.
* Claims of costs for data recovery have been inflated by more than an order of magnitude, possibly as a way to dissuade Congress from pushing recovery.
* There is nobody at the White House who owns the RNC email problem and the RNC has refused to restore White House emails from their servers.
If anything, the hearings this week have reinforced just how important David's recommendations in Where Have All The Emails Gone? are. Those six steps may be the only path that will prevent the problems explored by the Committee from happening with future administrations.
David Gewirtz has written more than 600 articles about email, collaboration, and mobile technology. As one of America's foremost email experts, he's been able to do unprecedented forensics research. As the editor of the two leading magazines on the email technologies used at the White House, he has the expertise necessary to see and explain all sides of the issue, provide workable, non-partisan solutions, and make it understandable to everyone.
Additional resources
Where Have All The Emails Gone? is the most comprehensive analysis of White House email ever published, reads like a thriller, and ends with six very doable recommendations that can quickly and easily bring security and safety back to White House email.
The book's Web site http://www.EmailsGone.com contains a complete resource center with original documentation, source material, and forensic artifacts used in the investigation. The $19.95 book is available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/0945266200.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2007937415
ISBN (10-digit): 0-945266-20-0
ISBN (13-digit): 978-0-945266-20-4
About ZATZ Publishing
ZATZ Publishing is a leading publisher of special-interest online magazines and books for technical consumers and IT professionals. ZATZ publishes popular magazines, including OutlookPower Magazine, DominoPower Magazine, Computing Unplugged Magazine, Connected Photographer Magazine, and WebSpherePower Magazine. Together, these publications have nearly one million readers and are the leading monthly magazines in their markets.
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