I'd like it not to be true, and yes there is a detailed explanation there as well as here: http://blog.erratasec.com/2016/11/debunking-trumps-secret-server.html?m=1
The summary of it is 'part of normal marketing mail, and because bank reps stay at Trump hotels ', is that essentially right? Here's the trouble I'm having with this, and it has nothing to do with Trump's almost obscene man-love for Putin. Go ahead and grab your favorite IT friends. Ask them about setting up, maintaining, and securing a server. Then ask them how normal / expensive it is to build two entire secure servers that only talk to each other, and actively block anything else, and what it takes to take that back down (and spin a replacement back up) just because someone noticed the server exists. Did you tell your IT friends all this? Awesome. Now tell them all this was done because one side really Really wanted to get inbox ads and book hotel rooms during business trips. For funzies take a shot for every minute that they laugh and see if you can stand up afterward.
Now I'm a firm believer in the simplest explanation being true. In this case I have no idea what the nytimes was smoking because that makes no sense from an IT perspective. And there may still well be a reasonable explanation, but the offered one out the gate isn't it
