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Laptop stolen from Pelosi's office during storming of U.S. Capitol, says aide

reuters.com

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Re: Laptop stolen from Pelosi's office during storming of U.S. Capitol, says aide

#31

Post by mumblemumble »

Fauntleroy wrote: post #23
mumblemumble wrote: post #14

Beyond the information security risk around the loss of this specific device, what really worries me is the physical security implications here. I'm certainly no expert on the subject, but it seems to me like, in a building like the US Capitol, it should not be anywhere near this easy for unauthorized people to waltz into an office or conference room in the first place. Let alone walk away with items from within that…

To prevent unauthorized entry, Capitol Police would have had to put up a fight. Seems they were unwilling to do so. If America continues down this path Russia (and others) are just gonna have a field day.

I guess? I would have expected the doors to put up a fight, too. But it doesn't sound like there was much forced entry going on beyond getting into the building itself.

At my own workplace, all the areas that are not intended for public use - office blocks and most meeting rooms, for example - are locked at all times and have keycard access. Defense in depth, y'know? And we're not even a juicy target like the US Capitol, we're just some company.

Re: Laptop stolen from Pelosi's office during storming of U.S. Capitol, says aide

#32

Post by rat87 »

slg wrote: post #7

>Nancy Pelosi told fellow House Democrats that she had received reassurances about safeguards to prevent Donald Trump from launching a nuclear attack Maybe this is too political or HN, but this is the bigger news on that page. It tells me we don't have a functioning chain of command and our government is currently responding to a hard coup attempt with a soft coup which is also pretty scary. Trump should either be re…

Personally I find the idea that there are any safeguards against Trump lunching nukes a comfort

Nixon's aides did likewise in the days before his resignation.

The fact that the president has the power to decide to punch nukes all by himself is terrifying and should have been fixed long ago

Re: Laptop stolen from Pelosi's office during storming of U.S. Capitol, says aide

#33

Post by tsomctl »

ascales wrote: post #4

Clearly a big deal and congressional IT staff are going to have a crazy few weeks ahead of them. However, my understanding is that any classified information would have to be in a SCIF. I assume that would be the case with congresspeople as well. I've also heard that the congressional paging system locks devices when an emergency is announced, but haven't seen that corroborated anywhere. Anyone know if that's true?

Counter evidence: the protesters were saying that they saw computers unlocked with email still open.

Re: Laptop stolen from Pelosi's office during storming of U.S. Capitol, says aide

#34

Post by nikolaj »

stuff4ben wrote: post #3

It was apparently stolen from a conference room and used only for presentations. Still a bad look for Capitol Police and physical security operations.

I can't even count the number of times I have seen privileged information dropped onto a "presentation" laptop during a meeting. I hope they are better at controlling that than most.

Re: Laptop stolen from Pelosi's office during storming of U.S. Capitol, says aide

#35

Post by slg »

96394032 wrote: post #26
slg wrote: post #7

>Nancy Pelosi told fellow House Democrats that she had received reassurances about safeguards to prevent Donald Trump from launching a nuclear attack Maybe this is too political or HN, but this is the bigger news on that page. It tells me we don't have a functioning chain of command and our government is currently responding to a hard coup attempt with a soft coup which is also pretty scary. Trump should either be re…

I would hope all entities with nuclear capabilities have de facto safeguards in place to prevent anyone from actually launching a nuclear attack. Although, I would also hope they wouldn't talk about them as it diminishes the deterrent effect that is the only potentially good thing about such weapons. Nuclear weapons should never be used but people who can use them should not say that.

I read that comment as saying there are extra safeguards currently in place that go above and beyond the normal safeguards. If the existing safeguards for a normal president would be enough, Pelosi being third in line for the president likely wouldn't have to ask about them.

Re: Laptop stolen from Pelosi's office during storming of U.S. Capitol, says aide

#36

Post by djsumdog »

Fauntleroy wrote: post #23
mumblemumble wrote: post #14

Beyond the information security risk around the loss of this specific device, what really worries me is the physical security implications here. I'm certainly no expert on the subject, but it seems to me like, in a building like the US Capitol, it should not be anywhere near this easy for unauthorized people to waltz into an office or conference room in the first place. Let alone walk away with items from within that…

To prevent unauthorized entry, Capitol Police would have had to put up a fight. Seems they were unwilling to do so. If America continues down this path Russia (and others) are just gonna have a field day.

The Capitol Police were either incompetent or complicit. There are literally no other options. They knew there would be a big protests, numbers put it around 200k~300k (a tiny percentage of which actually went into the capitol building mind you).

If they weren't prepared for this: incompetence. But there are videos of people getting selfies with guards, and staying within the velvet ropes when coming in. Something isn't right here and no one is talking about it.

Re: Laptop stolen from Pelosi's office during storming of U.S. Capitol, says aide

#37

Post by jessaustin »

slg wrote: post #7

>Nancy Pelosi told fellow House Democrats that she had received reassurances about safeguards to prevent Donald Trump from launching a nuclear attack Maybe this is too political or HN, but this is the bigger news on that page. It tells me we don't have a functioning chain of command and our government is currently responding to a hard coup attempt with a soft coup which is also pretty scary. Trump should either be re…

Putting "safeguards" in place so no one really knows who is in charge can be dangerous.

If the personnel involved hadn't overruled their orders several times during "the Cold War", we would already have had several post-Nagasaki nuclear disasters. These weapons are ongoing dangers to everyone.

Re: Laptop stolen from Pelosi's office during storming of U.S. Capitol, says aide

#38

Post by slg »

xpe wrote: post #28
slg wrote: post #7

>Nancy Pelosi told fellow House Democrats that she had received reassurances about safeguards to prevent Donald Trump from launching a nuclear attack Maybe this is too political or HN, but this is the bigger news on that page. It tells me we don't have a functioning chain of command and our government is currently responding to a hard coup attempt with a soft coup which is also pretty scary. Trump should either be re…

My personal views aside, this is off-topic.

It is only off topic because of the title used by the person posting it. My comment was directly based off the linked article.

Re: Laptop stolen from Pelosi's office during storming of U.S. Capitol, says aide

#39

Post by ceejayoz »

mumblemumble wrote: post #31
Fauntleroy wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To prevent unauthorized entry, Capitol Police would have had to put up a fight. Seems they were unwilling to do so. If America continues down this path Russia (and others) are just gonna have a field day.

I guess? I would have expected the doors to put up a fight, too. But it doesn't sound like there was much forced entry going on beyond getting into the building itself. At my own workplace, all the areas that are not intended for public use - office blocks and most meeting rooms, for example - are locked at all times and have keycard access. Defense in depth, y'know? And we're not even a juicy target like the US Capi…

Congress isn't really one office, though. It's hundreds of individually run ones, each intended to serve the public fairly frequently. You can (generally) pop in and see your congressperson and/or their staff if you want.

Re: Laptop stolen from Pelosi's office during storming of U.S. Capitol, says aide

#40

Post by staplers »

Fauntleroy wrote: post #23
mumblemumble wrote: post #14

Beyond the information security risk around the loss of this specific device, what really worries me is the physical security implications here. I'm certainly no expert on the subject, but it seems to me like, in a building like the US Capitol, it should not be anywhere near this easy for unauthorized people to waltz into an office or conference room in the first place. Let alone walk away with items from within that…

To prevent unauthorized entry, Capitol Police would have had to put up a fight. Seems they were unwilling to do so. If America continues down this path Russia (and others) are just gonna have a field day.

You're being downvoted, but it's been proven police helped the rioters and even took selfies with them.
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