Foldering

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Foldering is the practice of communicating via messages saved to the "drafts" folder of an email or other electronic messaging account that is accessible by multiple people. [1] [2] [3] [4] The messages are never actually sent. [1] [2] [3] [4]

Contents

Foldering has been described as a digital equivalent of a dead drop. [2]

History

Foldering was reportedly used by al-Qaeda at least as early as 2005 [2] and it has also been used by drug cartels. [1]

Notable cases

In 2012, David Petraeus was reported to have used foldering to communicate with Paula Broadwell. [2] [5]

In June 2018, Greg Andres cited Paul Manafort's use of foldering as evidence that Manafort engaged in deceptive behaviours. [4]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "Mueller's team accused Manafort of 'foldering,' a technique used by drug cartels and terrorist groups to secretly communicate".
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Manafort allegedly used "foldering" to hide emails. Here's how it works". 15 June 2018.
  3. 1 2 "Paul Manafort accused of 'foldering' to hide communications". 16 June 2018.
  4. 1 2 3 "Mueller says Manafort used "foldering" as part of his "deception"".
  5. Fisher, Max (12 November 2012). "Here's the e-mail trick Petraeus and Broadwell used to communicate" via www.washingtonpost.com.