SpyTalk

Despite this and other recent e-espionage incidents, officials remain incredibly lax about securing their Blackberries and other PDA, says Carpenter, the principal forensics analyst at NetWitness.  Five years ago, Carpenter blew the whistle on the government's cover-up of computer security lapses that were letting foreign hackers run wild in the sensitive and export-control files of the Department of Defense and other agencies and such international organizations as the World Bank.  

"I've found that people in high positions such as this fellow are strangely cavalier about how they protect electronic communications such as email...High-ranking personnel (military and civilian) are often the worst offenders. They don't want to be hassled with remembering long and complicated passwords, and are always looking for the newest model with built-in features that expose the devices to more risk."

And its easy for an adversary to get into the officials' Backberries, he says.

"People often pick silly passwords that are easily guessed after doing a bit of research on the individual (names of favorite sports teams, children, spouses, etc.)"

Carpenter says "adversaries can also glean information about the BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) and email accounts that the device synchronizes with, including calendars, contacts, and other data stored on it. In the right hands, it could be a wealth of intelligence. The intel could also be used to target the BES itself, which could yield other useful information."