Richard Nixon Has Nothing On These People!

[One Bad Pig]

Yeah the odds that the recipient's drives failed at the same convenient time is astronomically small, unless a sledgehammer was involved. oops! I accidentally smashed my hard drive with this hammer. sorry.

And who ever heard of an agency of the US government, like the IRS that didn't keep backups?

The article says that the IRS made tape backups, but recycled the tapes every six months.

[Sparko]

The article says that the IRS made tape backups, but recycled the tapes every six months.

Yeah but a lot of times the tapes are offloaded to an offsite storage medium and then returned to be re-used. Plus there was a policy that any important documents and emails had to be printed and filed away.

[seanD]

Would be an ironic twist if congress had to order the NSA to produce copies of the emails they store in their prism program.

[Sparko]

Would be an ironic twist if congress had to order the NSA to produce copies of the emails they store in their prism program.

your wish...

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2...t-irs-e-mails/

[Bill the Cat]

as if the IRS doesn't make backups of their data and emails. Emails are most likely not even stored on a person's computer but on a an exchange server located somewhere else. SOP.

If the IRS has an infrastructure like every other Federal Government agency, they do it that way. Exchange servers store the mail in the user's mail store. A copy CAN be stored locally through Cached Exchange Mode, but that is just a synchronized copy of the mail store, which is stored on the Exchange server's RAID. Additional copies can be made through the use of local .pst files, but again, they are only copies of the original stored elsewhere. Information Assurance rules require nightly backups and offsite backup media storage for 10 years. This fiasco is a lie and anyone who works on government exchange systems knows that.

[John Reece]

The article says that the IRS made tape backups, but recycled the tapes every six months.

I have heard a number of professionals in the field ― most of them on Mark Levin's show, but some on Rush's ― say that that is simply not possible.

I just now listened to a caller to Rush's program who is privy to knowledge of the backup systems used by the IRS that automatically back up all data, duplicate all data, and systematically store all data offsite so that it is impossible for any data to ever be lost; all IRS data is backed up on a daily basis in such a way that it is duplicated and stored permanently in more than one location.

[Sparko]

If the IRS has an infrastructure like every other Federal Government agency, they do it that way. Exchange servers store the mail in the user's mail store. A copy CAN be stored locally through Cached Exchange Mode, but that is just a synchronized copy of the mail store, which is stored on the Exchange server's RAID. Additional copies can be made through the use of local .pst files, but again, they are only copies of the original stored elsewhere. Information Assurance rules require nightly backups and offsite backup media storage for 10 years. This fiasco is a lie and anyone who works on government exchange systems knows that.

But but.. all of the local hard drives crashed and were thrown away, and the Exchange Server RAID was kidnapped by terrorists and all of the backups were accidentally buried with some nuclear waste in Area 51. And, and zombies destroyed the IT department.

[Bill the Cat]

It's my understanding that they are legally required to keep backups. And anyway, emails are not stored on local hard drives (not solely, at least). There are so many things that make this excuse...lame. Really, really lame.

Anyone who knows more about this can feel free to correct me.

http://www.irs.gov/irm/part10/index.html


10.8.60.4.4 (10-04-2012)
System/Application Backups

1. All FISMA-reportable systems and applications and non-applications (as defined by FISMA) shall be backed up in a restorable format on a regular basis, encrypted, and stored offsite.
2. Frequency and type of backups shall be defined in the Operations/Customer SLA and documented in applicable SA&A documents.
3. All Mobile Media shall be encrypted; see the Encryption of Mobile Media section in IRM 10.8.1 for additional guidance.
4. All backup media shall be stored offsite.
5. See the Information Backup section in IRM 10.8.1 for additional guidance.
6. Offsite backup storage shall be identified and documented in the ISCP with the name of the location and location site.

[Sparko]

They finally admit they have the emails after all:

[Darth Executor]

They finally admit they have the emails after all:

I wouldn't be surprised if they edited them to be harmless and are saving this for the mid-terms so they can paint Republicans as partisan hacks engaging in a witch hunt.

[Sparko]

I wouldn't be surprised if they edited them to be harmless and are saving this for the mid-terms so they can paint Republicans as partisan hacks engaging in a witch hunt.

Just lying about the emails existence to congress is a crime.

[Zymologist]

Just lying about the emails existence to congress is a crime.

Good thing Congress won't tolerate stuff like that.

[seer]

good thing congress won't tolerate stuff like that.

lol...

[Juvenal]

They finally admit they have the emails after all:

One day, young padawan, you too will learn to trust only credible sources.

Judicial Watch: Lerner emails aren't missing

The administration official said Justice Department lawyers had dropped no bombshells last week, and Judicial Watch was mischaracterizing what the government had said.

The official said DOJ lawyers were only referring to tapes backing up IRS emails that were routinely recycled twice a year before 2013, when the investigation into the Tea Party controversy began.

JW is a plaintiff in this case, and known for ideological excess.

As ever, Jesse

[Sparko]

One day, young padawan, you too will learn to trust only credible sources.

Judicial Watch: Lerner emails aren't missing

The administration official said Justice Department lawyers had dropped no bombshells last week, and Judicial Watch was mischaracterizing what the government had said.

The official said DOJ lawyers were only referring to tapes backing up IRS emails that were routinely recycled twice a year before 2013, when the investigation into the Tea Party controversy began.

JW is a plaintiff in this case, and known for ideological excess.

As ever, Jesse

How conveeenient. Just happened to recycle the backups right when they are needed.

And they also conveniently destroyed her blackberry AFTER the investigation was started.

The IRS filing in federal Judge Emmet Sullivan’s court reveals shocking new information. The IRS destroyed Lerner’s Blackberry AFTER it knew her computer had crashed and after a Congressional inquiry was well underway. As an IRS official declared under the penalty of perjury, the destroyed Blackberry would have contained the same emails (both sent and received) as Lois Lerner’s hard drive.

Read more at http://observer.com/2014/08/irs-shoc...#ixzz3BbLsyxri
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