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Mark Cuban doesn't communicate with Mavericks players, staff over email because of security concerns

Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Mark Cuban’s negotiations with Sony might have been released by a hacker, but don’t expect the majority of his communications with Mavericks players to ever make it into the public sphere.

The Mavericks owner told For The Win that he communicates with his team using Cyber Dust, the private messaging app he introduced earlier this year. The app quickly deletes messages after they are read and alerts users when a screengrab is taken.

“What happened … can and will happen to more athletes,” he said in a conversation with For The Win over the app.

Cuban’s emails to Sony Pictures Television President Steve Mosko about his fee to appear on ‘Shark Tank’ were part of the large Sony leak that many believe is in retaliation from the North Korea over the release of ‘The Interview’, a movie where Seth Rogan and James Franco assassinate the North Korean dictator. On Wednesday, Sony announced it was cancelling the Dec. 25th release of the movie.

In the emails about ‘Shark Tank’, Cuban calls the original offer an ‘insult’ and tells Mosko to consider removing him from the promos.

“(I) wasn’t mad at all,” he said of his inclusion in the email hack. “I had switched to Cyber Dust before the hack. They didn’t get anything good.”

In addition to his business negotiations outside of the Mavericks, Cuban said he uses Cyber Dust for pretty much everything in the basketball organization unless it requires a document or something that he needs to save (in which case he uses traditional email).

“It’s just smart,” he said. “When you send a text or email (you) lose ownership of the message but not responsibility.

“Any email or text you have ever sent even the most innocent or benign could be forwarded posted on social media or shown to someone out of context and create issues for you,” he added. “Why take that risk? Every business person writes emails and texts as if they will be read by a third party and it’s still not good enough. Plus it means no email or text exchange is honest … I like a face to face conversation — you can be blunt, honest and direct.”

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