Cyber-blackmail

CNN reports on a large cyberattack:

Washington (CNN)The massive hack that may have stolen the personal information of four million federal employees appears designed to build a vast database in what could be preparation for future attacks by China against the U.S., cybersecurity experts advising the government told CNN Friday afternoon.

Law enforcement officials also said Friday that the hack appears to have been carried out by the same Chinese hackers who attacked Anthem Insurance earlier this year, in which information on tens of millions of customers was stolen.

U.S. officials believe the breach, which was revealed Thursday and affected current and former federal workers from nearly every government agency, could be the biggest ever of the government's computer networks.

"The extent of personal data stolen makes this attack an order of magnitude greater than any we have seen of its kind in the past," said California Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee who was briefed on the attack.

It looks like government sponsored hackers can penetrate just about any system, secure or not.

But there's an interesting corollary to this event.

Recall that Hillary Clinton ran her own server to conduct government business and did so for all of her years as Secretary of State. Recall further, that by her own admission, she deleted 30,000 "personal" emails from that server and further refused to turn the server over to congress for a forensic analysis. And don't forget that there are many "coincidental" instances of "contributions" to the now infamous Clinton Foundation followed by government favors to those who had done the "donating" during her tenure as Secretary of State.

Congressional Republicans are anxious to learn what was in those 30,000 deleted emails. Now we know who to ask—the Chinese.

It is near certain that the Chinese hacked Ms. Clinton's weakly secured server (child's play for sophisticated hackers) and it's equally likely that copies of those 30,000 emails are now on a secure server somewhere in China.

What if?

What if the Chinese, through an intermediary, contacted the Clinton presidential campaign and threatened an anonymous Snowden-like document dump. What if they suggested that the dump could be avoided if Clinton committed to certain—uh—flexibility with Chinese policy if she becomes president. Cyber-blackmail at its best. How do you think the Clinton campaign would react—with defiance or with a wan smile as a prelude to amicable negotiations?

Of course, there's nothing to worry about if Clinton's "personal" emails were, as she claims, only about baby names and weddings.

But if you believe that, then I suppose there's really no point in being the least bit concerned. Is there?