White House Officials Tricked By Email Prankster (cnn.com)

Jake Tapper, reporting for CNN: A self-described "email prankster" in the UK fooled a number of White House officials into thinking he was other officials, including an episode where he convinced the White House official tasked with cyber security that he was Jared Kushner and received that official's private email address unsolicited. "Tom, we are arranging a bit of a soiree towards the end of August," the fake Jared Kushner on an Outlook account wrote to the official White House email account of Homeland Security Adviser Tom Bossert. "It would be great if you could make it, I promise food of at least comparible (sic) quality to that which we ate in Iraq. Should be a great evening." Bossert wrote back: "Thanks, Jared. With a promise like that, I can't refuse. Also, if you ever need it, my personal email is" (redacted). Bossert did not respond to CNN's request for comment; the email prankster said he was surprised Bossert responded given his expertise. The emails were shared with CNN by the email prankster. White House officials acknowledged the incidents and said they were taking the matter seriously. "We take all cyber related issues very seriously and are looking into these incidents further," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told CNN.

Comments

Re:It will happen in any administration

[s.petry]

The fact that people can be fooled in this way in this particular organization. That's actually useful.

That would depend on how the facts get presented and what opinions and position accompany the facts.

The guy might be making an ass of folks, but that's harmless; people can do the same thing to cause harm.

Absolutely, this guy could have done this for personal gain and causing harm to others. Oh wait, isn't that exactly what happened?

By his actions, he's made people more-vigilant; however, they need to take this information and instill permanent policies, as that vigilance is only temporary.

Right on, CNN is now out educating people about the dangers of fishing and teaching everyone how to read mail headers and verify! Oh wait, that is not what they are doing. They are using it to bash an administration that they dislike and have bashed since election day.

I'll close similar to how I opened. The fact that this worked is not a surprise really, because we see successful fishing attempts all the time. How the information of a successful attack is used differs. The Media could have done this differently, but I expect nothing but repeated bashing from not just CNN but all US media without any public service (education).