{"id":107996,"date":"2023-07-19T15:14:40","date_gmt":"2023-07-19T15:14:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sperrysoftware.com\/Email-Tools\/?p=107996"},"modified":"2023-07-19T15:14:40","modified_gmt":"2023-07-19T15:14:40","slug":"how-a-simple-typo-exposed-us-military-secrets-to-mali-and-how-to-avoid-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sperrysoftware.com\/Email-Tools\/how-a-simple-typo-exposed-us-military-secrets-to-mali-and-how-to-avoid-it\/","title":{"rendered":"How a Simple Typo Exposed US Military Secrets to Mali (and How to Avoid It)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Imagine sending an email with confidential information to the wrong person, just because you typed one letter wrong.\u00a0 That\u2019s what happened to the US military, who for over 10 years have been sending millions of emails to Mali, a West African country allied with Russia, instead of their own .MIL domain according to an article from The Verge<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"soldier<\/a>\u00a0 In the article, according to a report by the Financial Times<\/a>, these emails contained medical records, identity documents, naval inspection reports, travel itineraries, and more.\u00a0 Some of them even revealed the room numbers and key collection details of General James McConville, the US Army\u2019s chief of staff, during his visit to Indonesia!<\/p>\n

How did this happen?\u00a0 It\u2019s all because of a typo.<\/strong>\u00a0 Instead of appending the .MIL domain to their recipient\u2019s email address, people frequently typed .ML, the country identifier for Mali, by mistake.\u00a0 And since Mali\u2019s domain was managed by a Dutch entrepreneur, who set up a system to catch these misdirected emails, he was able to intercept them and warn the US government.<\/p>\n

But his contract with Mali ends soon, and then the authorities in Mali will be able to access the emails.\u00a0 This could pose a serious threat to US national security, especially since Russia has established a presence in Mali through the Wagner Group, a state-backed paramilitary organization that is accused of supplying weapons to Ukraine.<\/p>\n

So how can you avoid making such a costly email mistake?\u00a0 One way is to use Safeguard Send for Microsoft 365<\/a>, an add-in for Outlook that helps you prevent sending emails to the wrong recipients.\u00a0 Safeguard Send lets you set up rules and warnings for specific domains, keywords, attachments, and recipients.\u00a0 For example, you can create a rule that alerts you whenever you try to send an email to a .ML domain instead of a .MIL domain, or if you try to send an email to a .CON domain instead of a .COM domain, or anytime you send an email outside your organization.<\/p>\n

\"Safeguard<\/a>\u00a0 With Safeguard Send, one of the best parts is that you can also confirm each external recipient before sending an email, check for sensitive attachments or content, and review your email before sending it.\u00a0 Safeguard Send works with Outlook 2010 or later, as well as Microsoft 365.\u00a0 It\u2019s easy to install and configure, and it can be centrally managed for large organizations through the use of a dashboard for admins.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t let a typo ruin your reputation or compromise your security.\u00a0 Try Safeguard Send today and see how it can help you send emails with confidence and peace of mind. Visit https:\/\/www.sperrysoftware.com\/Email-Tools\/product\/safeguard-send-for-office-365\/ for more information and a free trial\/demo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Imagine sending an email with confidential information to the wrong person, just because you typed one letter wrong.\u00a0 That\u2019s what…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,2828],"tags":[2830],"class_list":{"0":"post-107996","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-message","7":"category-office-365-apps","8":"tag-safeguard-send-for-office-365"},"menu_order":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sperrysoftware.com\/Email-Tools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sperrysoftware.com\/Email-Tools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sperrysoftware.com\/Email-Tools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sperrysoftware.com\/Email-Tools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sperrysoftware.com\/Email-Tools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sperrysoftware.com\/Email-Tools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107996\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sperrysoftware.com\/Email-Tools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sperrysoftware.com\/Email-Tools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sperrysoftware.com\/Email-Tools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}