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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

#131
post #29

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.

You're being naive if you believe that Russia and others didn't already have a field day at the Capitol yesterday. I wouldn't worry as much about what these guys took from offices and server rooms as I would worry about what little digital gifts these guys may have left behind in the offices and server rooms.

Given the solarwind hack aren't they already in?

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

#132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uhh yeah, probably because the congresspeople were evacuated in a hurry because there was an angry mob storming their building?

At least where I work, we're required to configure computers to lock after 10 minutes of inactivity.

Sadly 10 minutes probably not enough time in this case if they had that security feature on.

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

#133
post #114

What is a good strategy for most convenience while securing private data on a laptop that could be stolen? Full disk encryption is good for when the machine is powered off. What about for the scenario when it gets swiped during the work day when I'm in the bathroom?

Cloud native OS?

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

#134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They were understaffed, and it was clear that they could not protect both the building and the people. They correctly prioritized evacuating the people.

This can be correct, but so can GPs point: two possible findings are that the capitol police were deliberately left understaffed because * higher level leadership judged the threat of the protestors to be insignificant (incompetence) * higher level leadership wanted the potential for a mob to enter the building (complicity) However they found themselves in the position, they did, and once there I think they had an un…

Except for that part where they murdered an unarmed Air Force veteran.

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

#135
post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've traveled to countries before whose offices of government are behind very large fences, protected by unfriendly looking men standing behind heavy machine guns in armored vehicles – and the guide books are very clear that you are not to take photos of them. I much prefer the approach taken in the USA, where our offices of government are accessible to the people that the government serves. It's very good that I can…

Seems like it ought to be possible to have both, to some degree. I don't want the capitol to be a fortress, but they need to prevent stuff like this. I mean... the US spends massive amounts of money on the police and military. I think it should be kind of like a non-Newtonian fluid. Walk in slowly and peacefully and it's ok. Try and punch it, it solidifies quickly.

There are, for instance, buildings with large areas that are open to the public and other areas which hold large amounts of money that are very important to protect.

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

#136
> belonged to a conference room and was used for presentations

Yikes. My first though was - oh this should be no big deal chances are there are good policies in place for laptops that go home with people.

Then I realized it is a shared/central machine which means it probably has the most effed up and relaxed security in the fleet, post-it notes with passwords taped to the palm rests, and god knows what else. IT departments are notorious for over-granting privileges to these shared machines due to the mixed use they typically recieve. After X help desk complaints you get fed up and check all the boxes in the permissions manager.

Hopefully, though, it is locked up and the data is inaccessible.

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

#137
post #6

If they followed proper security it would be encrypted. All of our Macs at my employer automatically have it on.

If they followed proper security no individual would have been let out of the Capitol without being detained and searched.

Agree with this... also though capitol police were overwhelmed and 3 % control (ie managed to keep politicians out of harms way excluding covid implications) of the situation.

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

#140
post #114

What is a good strategy for most convenience while securing private data on a laptop that could be stolen? Full disk encryption is good for when the machine is powered off. What about for the scenario when it gets swiped during the work day when I'm in the bathroom?

Have a shit battery + full disk encryption + linux with broken hibernate support :D

Did Linux ever fix the hibernate stuff? I remember 5 years ago, it was a MUST to disable it, because the system would go to hibernate and never wake up again without a hard restart.
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