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Obama's Blackberry

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Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats
Originally posted by: Atheus
Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats
I'm guessing they have smarter people working on it than you...
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Nobody is smart enough to do something impossible...
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just because we can't figure out a way doesn't mean it's impossible.
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uh....

There are definitely certain instances, like this one, where you can say with certainty that it's quite near impossible. Unless you had the cooperation of every MTA/ISP on the planet to not pass email destined for someone else that had content from the president in it, it would be really hard to enforce this.

Granted, there are ways around it - like the suggestions in this thread about built-in client restrictions (which act sort of like the javascript "No right click" bans on websites to "stop" people from stealing images, but it's only a mere inconvenience).
 
Originally posted by: manlymatt83
Text

Obama also suggested the list does not include any world leaders.

"Typically, world leaders are going to be contacting me through the Oval Office. They know how to reach me there," he said.

The exclusive list of those who have the president's e-mail address reportedly includes a small group of senior aides and cabinet officials. According to a report in the New York Times, security precautions make it impossible to forward an e-mail from the president, or to send the president attachments.
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uh. Correct me if I'm wrong, but how the heck does that work?
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You tell the mail system "forwarding not allowed. Copy/Paste not allowed."

That's how you do it.

You're assuming they are using internet mail, they are NOT. It's their own internal system - notice who has the address.
 
Originally posted by: loki8481
the way the entire telcom industry has been in bed with the government, it doesn't seem like it'd be impossible.
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I run many mail servers. I haven't set any SMTP recipient/filtering restrictions on them. No matter what, I could forward any email sent to my address to anyone on any one of my other mail servers.

Nothing to do with the telcom industry.
 
Originally posted by: manlymatt83
Originally posted by: SagaLore
Originally posted by: manlymatt83
uh. Correct me if I'm wrong, but how the heck does that work?
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They are probably using a filtered repeater in the whitehouse, and syncing it with a Blackberry Enterprise server.
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Explain?
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There are 3 obvious security problems with having a mobile device like the BB:

- Small and portable - easily stolen, or temporarily taken and hacked into, then returned. Can be fixed if properly password protected and encrypted. Use special locks on the case to prevent just anyone from taking out the SIM card.
- Wireless communication - easily sniffed or hijacked. Also needs a high level of encryption. Even better if the signal he's using is not coming from a public tower, but rather from an internal repeater that is filtering connections based on its SSID and mac address. The repeater will then have a shielded cable or fiber optics for the remainder of the communication back to the provider.
- Hosted mail/calendar - for corporate use, blackberries can be synced back to an Enterprise server. You can apply policies to how email is routed or filtered. If the server is hardened and kept in a dmz that is not directly connected to anything else in the whitehouse, and the firewall ACLs only allow connections between itself, the vendor, and whitehouse mail servers, then you have okay protection.
 
Originally posted by: manlymatt83
Originally posted by: loki8481
the way the entire telcom industry has been in bed with the government, it doesn't seem like it'd be impossible.
Click to expand...

I run many mail servers. I haven't set any SMTP recipient/filtering restrictions on them. No matter what, I could forward any email sent to my address to anyone on any one of my other mail servers.

Nothing to do with the telcom industry.
Click to expand...

It's not SMTP silly. It's their own internal mail system which has much more control of what you can do with messages because it doesn't rely on SMTP.
 
Originally posted by: SagaLore
Originally posted by: manlymatt83
Originally posted by: SagaLore
Originally posted by: manlymatt83
uh. Correct me if I'm wrong, but how the heck does that work?
Click to expand...

They are probably using a filtered repeater in the whitehouse, and syncing it with a Blackberry Enterprise server.
Click to expand...

Explain?
Click to expand...

There are 3 obvious security problems with having a mobile device like the BB:

- Small and portable - easily stolen, or temporarily taken and hacked into, then returned. Can be fixed if properly password protected and encrypted. Use special locks on the case to prevent just anyone from taking out the SIM card.
- Wireless communication - easily sniffed or hijacked. Also needs a high level of encryption. Even better if the signal he's using is not coming from a public tower, but rather from an internal repeater that is filtering connections based on its SSID and mac address. The repeater will then have a shielded cable or fiber optics for the remainder of the communication back to the provider.
- Hosted mail/calendar - for corporate use, blackberries can be synced back to an Enterprise server. You can apply policies to how email is routed or filtered. If the server is hardened and kept in a dmz that is not directly connected to anything else in the whitehouse, and the firewall ACLs only allow connections between itself, the vendor, and whitehouse mail servers, then you have okay protection.
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And all of that makes perfect sense. The explanation I was looking for was how it protects people (other than blackberry users) from forwarding mail from the President.
 
Originally posted by: spidey07
Originally posted by: manlymatt83
Originally posted by: loki8481
the way the entire telcom industry has been in bed with the government, it doesn't seem like it'd be impossible.
Click to expand...

I run many mail servers. I haven't set any SMTP recipient/filtering restrictions on them. No matter what, I could forward any email sent to my address to anyone on any one of my other mail servers.

Nothing to do with the telcom industry.
Click to expand...

It's not SMTP silly. It's their own internal mail system which has much more control of what you can do with messages because it doesn't rely on SMTP.
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Sure, blackberry isn't. I AGREE with you that the restrictions can be put in place on a blackberry. The article doesn't say "restricts you from forwarding an email from the president from a blackberry."
 
Originally posted by: manlymatt83

Sure, blackberry isn't. I AGREE with you that the restrictions can be put in place on a blackberry. The article doesn't say "restricts you from forwarding an email from the president from a blackberry."
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I can't believe you are being this dense unless it's on purpose.

Think about it - only a few people have his e-mail address. Not his internet email address - the actual address in their mail system and that address probably only is allowed to receive from certain INTERNAL addresses.

Then ANYTHING sent from that address is marked "NO FORWARDING ALLOWED", and hence it's IMPOSSIBLE to forward it on the internal mail system or to the intarweb.

Think about it - it all stays on the internal mail system.
 
Originally posted by: spidey07
Originally posted by: manlymatt83

Sure, blackberry isn't. I AGREE with you that the restrictions can be put in place on a blackberry. The article doesn't say "restricts you from forwarding an email from the president from a blackberry."
Click to expand...

I can't believe you are being this dense unless it's on purpose.

Think about it - only a few people have his e-mail address. Not his internet email address - the actual address in their mail system and that address probably only is allowed to receive from certain INTERNAL addresses.

Then ANYTHING sent from that address is marked "NO FORWARDING ALLOWED", and hence it's IMPOSSIBLE to forward it on the internal mail system or to the intarweb.

Think about it - it all stays on the internal mail system.
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If that is true, then okay. It's possible. But then, Obama has to be restricted from sending mail out of the mail system to the public internet also.
 
Originally posted by: manlymatt83

If that is true, then okay. It's possible. But then, Obama has to be restricted from sending mail out of the mail system to the public internet also.
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Of course. Do you think they'd allow that to be sent in the clear? The DOD has it's own communication network for such things, they don't need the internet.
 
Originally posted by: spidey07
Originally posted by: manlymatt83

If that is true, then okay. It's possible. But then, Obama has to be restricted from sending mail out of the mail system to the public internet also.
Click to expand...

Of course. Do you think they'd allow that to be sent in the clear? The DOD has it's own communication network for such things, they don't need the internet.
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It was all in the writing of the article.
 
Originally posted by: manlymatt83
Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats
I'm guessing they have smarter people working on it than you...
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If the president sends me an email, the only way I'd not be able to forward it is if modifications were made to my MTA or my mail client, both of which I control. So how is this possible?
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First off, he won't be able to send any emails to anyone other then people that have been approved and are in his blackberry. Secondly, each of those people probably have to have just as custom of a blackberry as he does which means the security folks can anything they want to keep the emails from getting out because they have full control of all devices that can send/receive emails to/from his blackberry.
 
What if as I read the email I manually typed the content into another new email and put "FW: ... " on the subject line?
 
Originally posted by: manlymatt83

If that is true, then okay. It's possible. But then, Obama has to be restricted from sending mail out of the mail system to the public internet also.
Click to expand...

Ohnoes, he can't email us atot nerds so we can try our schemes to forward his letters without technical ability to do so. Damnit, someone send him an attach- damn... they're one step ahead of us. 🙂

An internal only system makes sense. And I even wonder if Obama needs to mail out side that system? It's not like he's writing emails to putin saying "yo V, what's up? u crazy dawg lol" I'd imagine most everyone Obama would email now is given access somehow to that system. Anyone outside of it is probably either being talked to by phone or by aids. It's the presidential bubble for better or worse
 
Originally posted by: manlymatt83
And all of that makes perfect sense. The explanation I was looking for was how it protects people (other than blackberry users) from forwarding mail from the President.
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What they are pointing out is that confidential emails in the President's mailbox can't be forwarded. There is no way to prevent the spoofing of his email address - but the content of those emails would just be spam, worms, or hoaxes anyway.
 
Originally posted by: Atheus
Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats
I'm guessing they have smarter people working on it than you...
Click to expand...

Nobody is smart enough to do something impossible...
Click to expand...

Nothing is impossible.

I don't think his device is an actual blackberry either, it's some type of NSA approved mobile device. /. had a link to it, but I forgot what it was called.

I'm sure the list of people who can send/receive email to/from that those accounts is very small. My guess is that it would be his wife, Rahm, and maybe 2-3 other people. That's it.
 
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