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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Passwords & User Names Stolen; General Killed; Bergdahl Meets With Investigators; How Top-Secret Ebola Drug Is Made

Aired August 06, 2014 - 12:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: If you've got mail, odds are you've been hacked in what may be the biggest cyber attack in the history of the world. More than $1 billion, that's billion, with a "b," folks, Internet user names and passwords stolen from almost a half million websites. So who did this? More importantly, what can you do about it?

Also this hour, ambushed in Afghanistan by a supposed ally. A two-star U.S. general on a mission to train soldiers in Afghanistan, instead becomes the highest ranking U.S. military officer killed since 9/11 in the start of the Afghan War 13 years ago.

And, as we get our first look at Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl since his return to regular duty, he gets ready to meet behind closed doors with a general. The mission, explain just exactly how he ended up in the hands of the Taliban five years ago.

Hello, everyone, I'm Ashleigh Banfield. Welcome to the program. It's Wednesday, August the 11th. This is LEGAL VIEW. It's nice to have you with us.

This may be the biggest cyber crime in history. That's right. It's the largest hack ever. A gang of Russian cyber criminals has stolen 1.2 billion user names and passwords. A private security company discovered the breach and said that the hackers have raided more than 420,000 websites, all in an effort to steal some private information. And that's about a sixth of the world's population, if we're talking about the numbers of people they now have access to, or at least accounts.

Hold Security is the company and it says that the hackers used spam, e-mails and networks of virus infected computers to steal that information. So, how do you know if your password has been stolen? And maybe more importantly, can you do anything about it at this point? Joining me to help answer that question is business correspondent Alison Kosik and CNN technology analyst Brett Larson.

Alison, I'm going to get you to start off. I thought it was a mistake. I thought the "b" was an "m" for billion and it's not. This is massive, but is it as bad as it sounds?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this was a massive data heist. If you ask the head of that security firm, Hold Security, Alex Holden. And what he says is that you may know that you've been hacked or you may not know that you've been hacked. One way that you may know that you've been hacked is if you get a lot of spam. Also if your friends start calling you and say, hey, you sent me this e-mail on weight loss pills, because what's essentially happening is these hackers are getting a hold of your e-mail, they're getting a hold of password and log-in combinations and they're able to kind of hijack your e-mail. That's the thinking there.

The good news according to the head of the security firm is that it doesn't look like these hackers were using the information for financial gain, meaning trying to get into your bank account. His worry, though, is that with all of this information, all of these credentials, the worry is, is that could - that it could be sold on the black market.

BANFIELD: So it could go there?

BRETT LARSON, CNN TECHNOLOGY ANALYST: Right.

BANFIELD: Ultimately, I mean, if I get spam, this is a big relief to me. I'm always worried because many of us, we use the same passwords for so many different things and don't shake your head at me. I know that's the first thing.

LARSON: I do the same thing. It's OK.

BANFIELD: It's hard -

LARSON: It is hard.

BANFIELD: When you have 100 different -

LARSON: Yes.

BANFIELD: You know, accounts out there.

LARSON: Absolutely.

BANFIELD: You have to share passwords. Does this mean, Brett, that we honestly have to go out and track down every single account we have and change our password today?

LARSON: I would say hesitantly not yet. I would wait for the different sites to reach out to you. We saw something very similar with Heartblead (ph) where different cites weren't actually affected. They already had security in place that kept us safe. So I would say, in this instance, you kind - it's kind of a wait and see approach.

BANFIELD: That's the first time I've heard you say that.

LARSON: Oh, wait - well -

BANFIELD: You always say change your password when you get hacked (ph).

LARSON: Change your password. Well, you absolutely should change your passwords all the time. I suggest changing them every couple of months. I know it sounds really painful and problematic because then you have to remember all of them. But for this I would say, take a wait and see approach. If a company reaches out to you and says, OK, we were effected, we -- our data was breached, then you absolutely need to change your password.

BANFIELD: Now Hold - Hold Security, they (INAUDIBLE) about this fellow because he's -- it's weird timing on why this man and Hold Security -- but by the way, the bonifides (ph) are great here. He's done this before. He's been able to track down hackers before.

LARSON: Yes.

KOSIK: Right.

BANFIELD: But there's something strange about the timing of him releasing this information today.

KOSIK: I don't know if you would call it strange. I would just say this, that he says that --

BANFIELD: How about coincidental? There's a big hacker convention going on.

KOSIK: Coincident. Maybe there's a -

LARSON: Yes, I like coincidental.

KOSIK: That could be. I like coincidental as well.

BANFIELD: OK.

KOSIK: You know, he says that he's - that this -- this particular cyber group has been sort of on his radar for at least seven months, maybe even longer. So he's known that they've been around. He only says -- only recently learned what they've really been up to.

One thing he says that you can do though is you can go to Hold Security, the website, his website, and put in your e-mail and then they'll send you an e-mail back to tell you if you've been hacked. Of course then there's a subscription fee that's put on. So you - there -

BANFIELD: Hmm.

LARSON: Hmm.

KOSIK: If you want to have a little monitoring done.

LARSON: Right.

KOSIK: So there is some question right now as to whether or not maybe there could be some capitalization on this.

LARSON: (INAUDIBLE).

KOSIK: Just throwing it out there.

BANFIELD: And I want to say - and I want to say I smell a rat -

KOSIK: But it is free.

BANFIELD: But the truth is, this has been - this has been vetted and it is true.

KOSIK: Yes.

BANFIELD: He did find these --

KOSIK: He did.

BANFIELD: He found that this has happened.

LARSON: Right.

BANFIELD: But I have a big question. He says there are a half a million different sites out there and many of them are big old household names but no one is telling us, average joes, which of those sites.

LARSON: Right.

BANFIELD: Is any of this fair, legal, rational?

LARSON: It seems very unfair, but I think -- and I always like to say, and it sounds very unusual, but I think stories like this, it's actually kind of a good news for consumers because -

BANFIELD: Please.

LARSON: Because it gets the information out there. It lets us know that, you know, in our increasingly digital lives, we are very vulnerable and we have to be very vigilant. And I like when stories like this break because it means that we're more aware as consumers and we can go to the online companies that we work with and say, if not outride demand, what are you doing to keep my data safe? And I think the marketplace will open up where if your e-mail subscriber is constantly getting hacked and another e-mail provider can come along and say, we do everything in our power to keep your data safe, the marketplace will respond to demands of consumers.

BANFIELD: Well, and I think that's a good point.

LARSON: But you do have to be vigilant.

BANFIELD: I so hate to hear that hacking is somehow good for us. But I get what your point is.

LARSON: Yes.

BANFIELD: Brett Larson, I always love when you come on the show and talk me off the ledge, even if it means I have to change passwords.

LARSON: Even if it means you have to change all of your passwords.

BANFIELD: Brett, Alison, thank you both. Appreciate it.

KOSIK: Sure.

BANFIELD: We're following another big story for you, and that is the crisis in the Middle East. Israelis and Hamas are in the middle of a cease-fire. So far so good. But it's early. This hour, we're expecting to hear from perhaps one of the most important of them all. That's Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem. And when he speaks, we're going to bring that to you live right here on CNN. So stay tuned. Maybe some early insights in terms of how these conversations may end up going between these two parties.

And now to that deadly attack on American troops in Afghanistan. We're learning more about the man responsible for it. The man who pulled the trigger, killing an American general and wounding more than a dozen more coalition forces. We've got the details on that just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: We are now learning a whole lot more about what the Pentagon is calling a pernicious killing of a two-star Army general in Afghanistan, an American general. It happened yesterday. You saw it break on this show. General Harold Greene was on a routine visit to the main Afghan military academy when an Afghan soldier opened fire from inside a building, through a window, 100 yards away from where this group was standing outside. As many as 15 other coalition troops were wounded in this attack.

Greene's expertise was logistics. In 30-plus years in the U.S. military, this was his first deployment to a war zone. More now from CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN ANCHOR: U.S. Army Major General Harold Greene was killed, and several others wounded, some seriously, when the gunman opened fire at Marshall Fahim National Defense University, a training facility in Kabul. The shooter, dressed in an Afghan military uniform, used a Russian-made machine gun. He was shot and killed by others on site.

DAVE SWANKIN, GEN. GREENE'S NEIGHBOR: It's bad enough to be shot, even in the battlefield. But the way that happened, somebody pulled a gun that was supposed to be on his side, you know, it's terrible.

STARR: The general was the highest ranking U.S. officer killed at the hands of an enemy in a war zone since Vietnam. He was the deputy for all U.S. training programs in Afghanistan.

LT. COL. JUANITA CHANG, GREENE FAMILY SPOKESWOMAN: He really believed in what he was doing over there and was really proud to serve.

STARR: Pentagon officials say they believe the shooter was an Afghan soldiered who'd been with his unit for some time and had been rigorously reviewed to make sure he was not a Taliban sympathizer. By all accounts, he passed the seven-step review process. The Pentagon, well aware the so-called insider threat, death at the hands of Afghan troops, is almost impossible to stop. REAR ADM. JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: The insider threat is

probably -- it's a pernicious threat and it's difficult to - to always ascertain. To come to grips with the scope of it, anywhere you are, particularly in a place like Afghanistan.

STARR: After peaking in 2012, coalition deaths from such attacks dipped last year, in part due to new security measures and reviews, but the risk remains.

STARR (on camera): The attack unfolded when General Greene and several others were standing outside. The shooter was firing from inside a nearby building.

Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BANFIELD: CNN's military analyst Rick Francona has some particular insights into green on blue attacks. That's because as a U.S. Air Force officer in Iraq, he actually survived one.

So, first of all, it's great to have you on set to talk about this incident. This has been so devastating, even though, generally speaking, as we look at this, the statistics show that we're actually doing so much better in Afghanistan right now when it comes to these attacks. I think we're down to something like three or four is it -- three in 2014 -

RICK FRANCONA, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Right.

BANFIELD: Fifteen in 2013 and 48 back in 2012. So, bad news yesterday but good news overall?

FRANCONA: Well, yes, this is because the vetting process that the Afghans have put in place is working. It's not perfect because you're going to have people fall through the cracks. But overall, we've seen the numbers come down drastically. And that's a good thing.

Now, it's not going to be 100 percent. So we're going to have these incidents. But as you said, the numbers are way down.

BANFIELD: Now, the Taliban, while obviously applauding this, and I don't think anyone expected anything other than that, hasn't necessarily claimed responsibility, although it's young, its early still, so we can wait on that. But we did look up some statistic as to causes on these kinds of green on blue attacks and they are fascinating when you break them down. Forty percent of them are often due to combat or emotional stress, 30 percent of them, no reason at all. I'm going to skip over that third one and talk about the infiltrators as 10 percent. And then back to that third one, intimidation and recruitment, 15 percent. The reason I said that last is because you actually know your attacker was coerced into doing it.

FRANCONA: Right. And we found this out, of course, later on from the investigation. This young man we were training, we were working with, as an adviser, we lived with, slept with, same compound - BANFIELD: Trusted.

FRANCONA: Very, very trusted. Almost, you know, that great bond that exists between, you know, people serving, you know, in a very difficult situation. And just one day in the afternoon, there was tremendous explosion. We didn't know what happened. And we didn't see him anymore. And then we started looking around. Well, what happened, you know, after the debris had cleared and we figured out --

BANFIELD: You were about 100 yards away?

FRANCONA: We were 100 yards away from this blast.

BANFIELD: OK.

FRANCONA: It was about 220 pounds of high explosive. Fortunately, it was a shate (ph) charge and most of the fragmentation went up. It was the concussion that really did most of the damage to where we were. It -- fortunately, I was in the only sandbagged room in this facility --

BANFIELD: Which is why you're here today.

FRANCONA: Which is why I'm here.

BANFIELD: Can I just say, yesterday when we watched the admiral giving this press conference about the future ramifications of this, he mentioned something called trust degradation, and said there won't be trust degradation.

I peeked over at you. You didn't roll your eyes, but you had a reaction. Because there is trust degradation.

FRANCONA: There has to be, and there will be. And I can tell you from personal experience after this happened to me, every time we were out again, with our colleagues, that we were working with and advising, it wasn't the same.

BANFIELD: Just on your shoulder all the time, right?

FRANCONA: It can never be the same. You always were looking around, wondering which one is next.

BANFIELD: And there always is one. There always is going to be one.

I'm personally glad that you're OK and here to talk about it, and certainly our thoughts go out to the families of those affected by what happened yesterday.

Colonel Francona, as always, thank you.

FRANCONA: Sure.

BANFIELD: I want to take you to the case of the American army sergeant, Bowe Bergdahl. Do you remember this video from back in May of Bergdahl being release from his Taliban captors after being held as a POW for five long years. Today, some questions about how he ended up in their hands in the first place, questions from the general who's investigating exactly what happened before he disappeared from his post in Afghanistan.

Did he walk willingly into their hands, or was it something far more complex than that?

And a brand-new photograph has just released of what Sergeant Bergdahl looks like now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: What to do about Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl? The Army still doesn't know how to handle this soldier, who was held by the Taliban for five long years. There has never been a case quite like his, ever.

This is an important couple of days for him, though, make no mistake. Two reasons, one, he's meeting right now with a two-star general, the general leading the military investigation into his disappearance.

Number two, here's a brand-new picture of Bergdahl. He hasn't been seen in public since he came back to the U.S. his attorney released this photograph yesterday. He reportedly spent the day with his team reviewing documents and getting ready for today's first big meeting. I can only presume that it's going to be the first of several.

Straight to San Antonio now. CNN's Nick Valencia who is covering this story. It ain't like this guy hasn't been talking to military officials from the moment he got back into custody of the United States. Is this an interrogation? Is this a meeting? Is this a legal proceeding? What is it?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN NATIONAL REPORTER: It's been characterized to us, Ashleigh, as being the first formal interview that Bowe Bergdahl will have.

This is the first time the conversation will be on the record, and it's really been described to us as just that, by Bowe Bergdahl's attorney, a conversation with people around the table asking questions about the day that Bowe Bergdahl disappeared.

The missing element in the Army's investigation is hearing from Bergdahl himself. After today, all of that will change.

According to his attorney who tells me the Army will have a better sense of what happened that day, this interview, by General Dahl, will focus on the day he left, will focus on Bergdahl's mindset, if he had the intention of deserting.

It will focus on all of those questions the public and the investigators have. It could very well go on past today, Ashleigh.

After I spoke to the attorney for Bergdahl, he told me that, you know, he'd prefer this wrap up quickly. It's just all a matter of the timetable that General Dahl has. It's all in his hands. BANFIELD: Still so many questions that have yet to be answered, some

of them understandably -- some of them really are confounding. And that is that, to our knowledge, he still hasn't met with his parents.

A man who was held captive, living with the fear of death every day for five years, still hasn't been embraced by his own mother. Does his lawyer say anything about why that is?

VALENCIA: His lawyer's really unwilling to comment about Bowe Bergdahl's relationship with his parents and whether or not he's spoken to them. As far as we know, since his release, Bergdahl has not made contact with his family, though he has had the freedom to call whoever he wants.

We understand also it was Bergdahl who reached out to this attorney, Eugene Fidel, who's his lead counsel.

He has the freedom to really contact his parents, but it's our understanding that he hasn't done that. It may be surprising to many, but, you know, that's been Bergdahl's choice so far.

Ashleigh?

BANFIELD: Very strange, indeed. Even if there's an estrangement, you would think that five years in that kind of dire situation might assuage that in some way.

Nick Valencia, keep us posted on what you hear from that. Thank you for that, live in San Antonio.

VALENCIA: You bet.

BANFIELD: I want to take us now to the deadly Ebola outbreak because we've got new details on that once top-secret serum being used to treat the two Americans with the virus.

It's really intriguing how this actually works, how it's actually made, and maybe the biggest question, will they be able to make a whole bunch of it now that we are close to a thousand victims dying from this horrible virus?

I'm going to talk with one of the doctors who is at the forefront with the U.S. army in getting the ball rolling for this serum to exist in the first place.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Health workers in West Africa are in a desperate race to contain the Ebola virus. We've got a visual that can help you understand just how bad this outbreak is getting.

We compiled the latest figures on Ebola deaths and the cases in West Africa from the World Health Organization over the last four months, and you can see the frequency of deaths and infections due to the virus, well, they've just simply skyrocketed since June.

So far Ebola has claimed the lives of more than 900 people and more than seventeen-hundred have been infected with it.

In the meantime, Nigeria, the fourth African nation to find Ebola within its borders, is now reporting five new cases and one more death, this as two infected Americans, who were infected in Liberia, are receiving treatment at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.

CNN's Stephanie Elam reports on how the top-secret drug that may be saving their lives is actually made.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERICA OLLMANN SAPHIRE, PROFESSOR, SCRIPPS RESEARCH INSTITUTE: It's profound. Everything we work for.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Erica Ollmann Saphire is part of the team of 25 labs in seven countries that created the serum taken by both American Ebola patients, and so far the cocktail seems to be working

Until now, the drug wasn't known to the public. It wasn't even supposed to be tested on humans until 2015.

Did you have any reservations before the outbreak happened about trying it on people?

SAPHIRE: I thought it would work. I would take it myself. But I know what it is. And I spent my life studying Ebola virus.

ELAM: Saphire says the antibodies work by binding to the virus or the infected cell.

SAPHIRE: So this is a model that we made of the structure of the structure of this protein that's in the surface of the virus, green and white. Yellow is the antibody, so this is the molecule the virus uses to attach to a human cell and drive itself in.