MSP, Networking

Hillary Clinton’s MSP: No Email Server Security Breaches Found

Hillary Clinton's personal email server had robust security and suffered no known breaches, according to an attorney for Platte River Networks, the MSP that managed Clinton's email server.

Republicans in Congress subpoenaed Datto, SECNAP Network Security and Platte River Networks earlier this week, seeking more information about the server. Platte River Networks managed the system, leveraging Datto's backup services. Also, SECNAP's tools apparently were used by a Clinton employee or contractor to check the system's security.

Kenneth Eichner, a former prosecutor who now represents Platte River, yesterday told The Denver Post:

“Platte River has fully cooperated for almost a year. Right now, we can’t figure out what other data could possibly be out there to help them. The FBI has already stripped (the server) and found all the security to be robust and that there were no breaches."

In a statement to ChannelE2E, Datto said:

“On August 22, 2016, the U.S. House Science, Space, and Technology Committee issued a subpoena to Datto and two other firms in relation to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private e-mail server. This was expected as part of the continuing Congressional review process and follows our receipt and response to several previous queries by the committee chairmen.  As in the past, it is our intention to review and fully comply with all legal requirements in relation to the request.”

ChannelE2E could not reach SECNAP for comment.

Who Holds the Encryption Keys?

Amid the Clinton email server fiasco, many MSPs and cloud vendors are wondering if or how they can maintain customer data privacy amid government subpoenas for information.

One potential solution: MSPs and vendors can leave the encryption key in the customer’s hands — rather than having the MSP or cloud provider manage the encryption keys. However, ChannelE2E does not know how security was specifically managed on Clinton's personal email server.

Joe Panettieri

Joe Panettieri is co-founder & editorial director of MSSP Alert and ChannelE2E, the two leading news & analysis sites for managed service providers in the cybersecurity market.