I'm less concerned about the kit that was removed from the Capitol and very much more concerned about all the kit that wasn't.
There is no laptop, no camera, no wall socket, no light switch even, that should not now be destroyed
Laptop stolen from Pelosi's office during storming of U.S. Capitol, says aide
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Re: Laptop stolen from Pelosi's office during storming of U.S. Capitol, says aide
#182> 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 depar…
The presentation machines at my workplace (in addition to being desktops in a locked cabinet, because why would they leave the room?) just allow you to remote desktop back to your real workstation or to a VM. They have nothing locally. I think that's a good solution to avoiding over-granting privileges.
I would absolutely hope that it behaves like a dumb terminal but honestly you never know.
Re: Laptop stolen from Pelosi's office during storming of U.S. Capitol, says aide
#183Every conservative narrative will now be about some evidence found on this laptop that will never be materialized in court. Just like the hunter Biden laptop that tucker Carlson supposedly lost in the mail.
If I recall UPS put a statement saying they searched and found the package. But then later Carlson magically backed off
> But after all of his commotion, Carlson suddenly backed off the story by Thursday night. “There are a lot of documents about Hunter Biden’s personal life that we haven’t brought to you and we’re not going to, and we should tell you why,” he said, adding that “Hunter Biden is a fallen man at this point.” And while he believes the Biden son is not “a bad person,” he does have “demons” and “lost control of those demons, and the world knows that now. He’s now humiliated and alone. It’s probably too strong to say we feel sorry for Hunter Biden, but the point is, pounding on a man, jumping on, piling on when he’s already down is something that we don’t want to be involved in.”
Re: Laptop stolen from Pelosi's office during storming of U.S. Capitol, says aide
#184I'm here to save my country but I'll settle for a free laptop...
Re: Laptop stolen from Pelosi's office during storming of U.S. Capitol, says aide
#185What 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?
Even when powered on, full disk encryption still changes the scenario from "reboot from a live CD" to "perform some advanced attack involving special hardware".
Unless someone specifically targets you for your data, FDE will keep your data safe from thieves who may sell the laptop (unwiped) or take a look otherwise.
Re: Laptop stolen from Pelosi's office during storming of U.S. Capitol, says aide
#186Hence the importance of the full disk encryption!
Came here to say I hope it was encrypted. Being a laptop I hope the IT person saw it fit to have it encrypted just because it is more easily prone to theft.
I mean, why are we paying the NSA, if Congress has unencrypted laptops. Literally their role to recommend security methods for encryption of companies and US interests. That is what I wonder every time I’m required to throw away my bottle of water and remove clothes to board a plane.
Re: Laptop stolen from Pelosi's office during storming of U.S. Capitol, says aide
#187Earlier 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.
I actually really like this analogy. I'm curious if there's there's a term for that kind of playbook for folks who are more familiar with building security.
Re: Laptop stolen from Pelosi's office during storming of U.S. Capitol, says aide
#188What 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?
> What about for the scenario when it gets swiped during the work day when I'm in the bathroom? Can you help me understand what attacks you think can be done with a locked screen, powered on laptop ? (given Full disk encryption is on)
DMA attacks - once you get access to a bus that allows direct memory access, you can unlock the machine.
Not something a thief that wants the laptop would do, but definitely something a targeted attacker who specifically steals a laptop to get your data would do.
Re: Laptop stolen from Pelosi's office during storming of U.S. Capitol, says aide
#189Earlier quoted context omitted.
> What about for the scenario when it gets swiped during the work day when I'm in the bathroom? Can you help me understand what attacks you think can be done with a locked screen, powered on laptop ? (given Full disk encryption is on)
Does linux have a screen locker that is reasonably secure?
Against what threat model? The general answer is "yes, most of them, including all the ones being used as defaults in major distros" -- they will not allow a user that isn't in possession of the password to log back into the session.
They don't necessarily prevent against other threat models, like "the attacker dumps the laptop's RAM" (which you could technically protect against if you froze all session processes and encrypted their working set with a key held in a secure element).
Re: Laptop stolen from Pelosi's office during storming of U.S. Capitol, says aide
#190Earlier quoted context omitted.
Locking the screen doesn't enable FDE though, does it?
What attacks are you thinking of? A cold boot attack while you're on the toilet? Or that the laptop is stolen? First and foremost you need to ensure physical security anyway. Otherwise a dedicated attacker can also just install a bug.
Laptop is stolen by a foreign intelligence agency who can do things like "pour liquid nitrogen on the ram and swap it to another computer to recover encryption keys" or whatever (I've been told that's a real attack... but it always seemed like an intelligence agency ought to just make a device to read the ram without pulling it at all... just hijack the wires communicating to the ram or something...)