4 ms·

Unbelievable the primary storage for all the secret documents is Outlook's PST of all things!

by yread 16y ago

cypherpunks01 16y ago
Ha, I'm a bit less surprised than you :) Microsoft's crappy products are widely used in the corporate world, and are a massive PITA to migrate away from. For such a huge system like the military's, I'm sure a microsoft salesperson convinced some less-than-well-informed military purchaser to store their data in an arbitrary secret microsoft format many years ago, and things were just never changed.
- ergo98 16y ago
  Not sure what value the derogatory comments about Microsoft brings. Exporting data from a PST is trivial, whether using the supplied tools or using script access. They obviously use PSTs because somehow it works for them.
  - xxpor 16y ago
    No, clearly it doesn't.
    - ergo98 16y ago
      Just to be clear, they knowingly granted him full access to all of this data (ergo, all of these PSTs). This falls completely under the auspices of "user error", and PST is no more to blame than if they granted administrator access to every user. This is a boring argument that only takes place because people can throw down the tired, unsupported "damn that Microsoft!" card. Sorry, but the reality is more correctly "Damn the intelligence community and inept safeguards and data controls."
  - Groxx 16y ago
    s/works/worked/ The desire to keep doing what used to work, in the face of better alternatives, seems to drive most governmental decisions. Not that they're entirely illogical in doing so. It got them where they are, didn't it?
tewks 16y ago
This was the most striking part of the article. "The .pst files are not meant to be a long-term, continuous-use method of storing messages in an enterprise environment." http://support.microsoft.com/kb/297019 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/297019
pmorici 16y ago
It makes perfect sense. If you receive all your reports via email you need to save them some place so your 20 MB mail box doesn't overflow and whoever follows you needs to be able to search everything so you stash it all in PST files on your network share drive and then pass those PST files along to the next guy that takes your position. At least that seems to be what the article is basically describing, albeit poorly.

Unbelievable the primary storage for all the secret documents is Outlook's PST of all things!

by yread 16y ago

Unbelievable the primary storage for all the secret documents is Outlook's PST of all things!

Ha, I'm a bit less surprised than you :) Microsoft's crappy products are widely used in the corporate world, and are a massive PITA to migrate away from. For such a huge system like the military's, I'm sure a microsoft salesperson convinced some less-than-well-informed military purchaser to store their data in an arbitrary secret microsoft format many years ago, and things were just never changed.

ergo98 16y ago
Not sure what value the derogatory comments about Microsoft brings. Exporting data from a PST is trivial, whether using the supplied tools or using script access. They obviously use PSTs because somehow it works for them.
- xxpor 16y ago
  No, clearly it doesn't.
  - ergo98 16y ago
    Just to be clear, they knowingly granted him full access to all of this data (ergo, all of these PSTs). This falls completely under the auspices of "user error", and PST is no more to blame than if they granted administrator access to every user. This is a boring argument that only takes place because people can throw down the tired, unsupported "damn that Microsoft!" card. Sorry, but the reality is more correctly "Damn the intelligence community and inept safeguards and data controls."
- Groxx 16y ago
  s/works/worked/ The desire to keep doing what used to work, in the face of better alternatives, seems to drive most governmental decisions. Not that they're entirely illogical in doing so. It got them where they are, didn't it?

tewks 16y ago

This was the most striking part of the article. "The .pst files are not meant to be a long-term, continuous-use method of storing messages in an enterprise environment." http://support.microsoft.com/kb/297019 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/297019

pmorici 16y ago

It makes perfect sense. If you receive all your reports via email you need to save them some place so your 20 MB mail box doesn't overflow and whoever follows you needs to be able to search everything so you stash it all in PST files on your network share drive and then pass those PST files along to the next guy that takes your position. At least that seems to be what the article is basically describing, albeit poorly.