Hillary Clinton Used BleachBit To Wipe Emails (neowin.net)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Neowin: The open-source disk cleaning application, BleachBit, got quite a decent ad pitch from the world of politics after it was revealed lawyers of the presidential hopeful, Hillary Clinton, used the software to wipe her email servers. Clinton is currently in hot water, being accused of using private servers for storing sensitive emails. "[South Carolina Representative, Trey Gowdy, spoke to Fox News about Hillary Clinton's lawyers using BleachBit to wipe the private servers. He said:] 'She and her lawyers had those emails deleted. And they didn't just push the delete button; they had them deleted where even God can't read them. They were using something called BleachBit. You don't use BleachBit for yoga emails or bridesmaids emails. When you're using BleachBit, it is something you really do not want the world to see.'" Two of the main features that are listed on the BleachBit website include "Shred files to hide their contents and prevent data recovery," and "Overwrite free disk space to hide previously deleted files." These two features would make it pretty difficult for anyone trying to recover the deleted emails. Slashdot reader ahziem adds: The IT team for presidential candidate Hillary Clinton used the open source cleaning software BleachBit to wipe systems "so even God couldn't read them," according to South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy on Fox News. His comments on the "drastic cyber-measure" were in response to the question of whether emails on her private Microsoft Exchange Server were simply about "yoga and wedding plans." Perhaps Clinton's team used an open-source application because, unlike proprietary applications, it can be audited, like for backdoors. In response to the Edward Snowden leaks in 2013, privacy expert Bruce Schneier advised in an article in which he stated he also uses BleachBit, "Closed-source software is easier for the NSA to backdoor than open-source software." Ironically, Schneier was writing to a non-governmental audience. Have any Slashdotters had any experience with BleachBit? Specifically, have you used it for erasing "yoga emails" or "bridesmaids emails?"

Comments

More political redirection

[Anonymous Coward]

Can it not just be December already, this mud flinging is showing up in places it shouldn't

Re:More political redirection

[Darinbob]

A: "But anyone could hack in and see her emails, it's totally unsecure!"
B: "She used BleachBit."
A: "That proves she had something to hide!"

The rationale comes from having a pre-conceived notion of guilt or nefarious motives, thus any action is further proof of malfeasance. Someone is accused of a crime and so any denial is seen as being unrepentant, pleading innocent in court is wasting tax payers time by going to trial, etc.

It would be nice to ignore idiots who go down this route, but we really can't. The crazy rich guy going off on a bender about how Obama isn't really a citizen could be dismissed as a lunatic but then that person ends up as a serious contender to be president several years later. You could ignore Trey Gowdy as just another blowhard looking to score points with the constituents, but crazy people have a disconcerting ability to hang on and not go away...

Re:More political redirection

[mysticgoat]

HRC and her team did everything they said they were going to do: they curated the emails, marked the ones that were personal for deletion, then used bleachbit to do the actual deletion. There is nothing new in that story.

But Trey Gowdy has demonstrated an appalling level of ignorance wrt to technology, and to the recent history of Federal level Republican politics. Oliver North, in Reagan's Iran - Contra fiasco, demonstrated full well that when it is expedient to delete something, you better damn well delete it. And not simply mark it as deleted. Gowdy is either an ignorant fool, or a disingenuous fool. But note that "fool" remains a constant with him, in this context.

To repeat: the Clinton team handled the deletions that she said she was doing in a professional manner. Gowdy just thinks that is somehow criminal that HRC is competent at handling sensitive information.

At this point I'm beginning to see a pattern shaping up where HRC is being found to be too competent at what she has been doing for fifty years, and therefore we hates her, we do, yes, we hates how this mere woman who is not a Republican is competent. Yes, we hates her.

Deflection

[Mikkeles]

Trump is only running to prevent a realistic republican from running against Hillary because, otherwise, very few would support her because of her behavior.

You think it matters?

[p51d007]

She & Bill have been protected, since they were in Arkansas. Look how many people connected to them have met with "accidents". Count is up around 100 by now. This election is a farce. She was already picked. Trump got into the election to steal the spotlight from any other Republican candidate. He is called to a meeting with Bill before he even considered running, then all of a sudden runs for president. The Clinton's and Trump's have been friends for DECADES. Wouldn't surprise me if he drops out at the last minute. About the only thing that will stop Hillary from becoming the president, is if she has a major stroke, or drops dead before being nominated, sadly. We the people are just pawns in this nation anymore. We are too preoccupied with Pokemon, "reality" tv, hollywood fanism than what is going on. Plus, our education system in the USA is to politically correct and has a couple generations of SHEEP, that believe all that is bad with this nation is capitalism, white privilege etc, and have been lead on a path to socialism by the (un)education system, who is nothing more than a bunch of grown up 60's radicals.

Re:Too late, said the Hunter

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd rather die on my feet than live on my knees! GARY JOHNSON 2016