A server is not more likely to be hacked if it is located at someone’s home

People who don't understand technology should not opine on former secretary of state Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server ["Ms. Clinton's 'top secret' emails," letters, Feb. 3]. Claiming that information on a home computer is easily accessed by hackers is simply untrue. A computer server's vulnerability to hackers is dependent on the safeguards that are deployed, not where it's located.

Clinton hired a private firm to set up her email server. Whether hackers could easily access her email server could be addressed only by cybersecurity experts assessing its defensive capabilities, including its network attachments. Her private email server may well have been more secure than the State Department's, which, at the time, apparently was not well set up to handle classified information.

Unless the server she used is proved to be especially vulnerable, speculation about its ability to securely handle information, classified or not, remains simply speculation.

John DesMarteau, Washington

The writer is a health information technology consultant.

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