Petraeus - FBI reading undelivered e-mails.

I was reading an article about General Petraeus and came across something strange. Here is the article - Yahoo News - New twists in Petraeus case: Another general accused of ‘inappropriate’ emails, ‘shirtless’ FBI agent taken off probe. Now personally I find the whole story sort of odd, it just doesn't ring true and there must have been more involved than we are told; but, that is not what I want to bring to people's attention. Here is the quote from the article that I find interesting.

"And, the Associated Press has uncovered the trick Broadwell and Petraeus used to email each other without creating an online trail. The pair set up anonymous email accounts and drafted emails to each other without ever pushing "send." Each one could log on to the other account and click the "drafts" folder to see if a message had been left for them. This avoids creating an easily traceable email trail, the AP reported."

I know even kids use this trick; but, it also means that the FBI hacked the account rather than having picked up on sent e-mails. How did they know it was a joint account and why did they hack it in the first place? The Associated Press article said the trick is used by kids and terrorists. The minute that you are on the internet, everything you do can be tracked all the way to your draft posts.

reply to post by AQuestion


The FBI had already identified Broadwell based on the threatening "anonymous" emails she sent Jill Kelley. They probably then got into her other email addresses (using a warrant or not) and found the missives in the draft folder.

I don't think there was much more technology used in tracking it than that.

Best,
West

The FBI probably used whatever super-advanced keyloggers they undoubtedly possess and simply used the recorded credentials.

reply to post by AQuestion


Do they read unreceived texts as well? Because my partner and I have sent several texts over the past two months that weren't received on either end.

I feel sorry for the poor sap who has the crappy job of reading them!

The FBI is WAY BEHIND, if they think this is how communication is getting done. My wannabe spy friends and I learned long ago that the best way is to have mutual access to the same email account, write the emails, save them to drafts, and then the other person can check in, read the draft, and edit it into a response, and so on. Nothing ever gets sent, so nothing can get intercepted, and since you are over-writing the same draft each time, there isn't any lasting chain to be used as evidence.

Poor FBI, always a day late and a dollar short.

Originally posted by westo
reply to post by AQuestion

 

The FBI had already identified Broadwell based on the threatening "anonymous" emails she sent Jill Kelley. They probably then got into her other email addresses (using a warrant or not) and found the missives in the draft folder.

I don't think there was much more technology used in tracking it than that.

Best,
West

Dear westo,

The General was in charge of the CIA, I doubt very much that the account was under either her or his real names. That raises the question of how they knew whose account it was. As they both used the same name and password they must have been identified as the owners of the account through there ISP; but, users don't have set ISPs.

Peace

reply to post by sprtpilot


Keyloggers have to be installed on your computer in advance.

reply to post by Charmeine


All internet activity is readable to someone in the know. The purpose of the internet, formally known as ARPnet was to make sure that communications remained up in the event of part of the system being taken out. Nothing that goes on the net ever disappears.