Live data from Hacker News

Child tweets gibberish from US nuclear-agency account

bbc.com

31–40 of 220 posts

Re: Child tweets gibberish from US nuclear-agency account

#31
post #9

Isn't the automatic reaction of a Windows desktop/laptop user to lock their workstation (Ctrl-Alt-Del, Enter, Enter) if they leave for any reason? Edit: that was a great Chaos Monkey to reiterate security hygiene. Or was it a Mini Chaos Monkey? https://netflix.github.io/chaosmonkey/

>Isn't the automatic reaction of a Windows desktop/laptop user to lock their workstation Having attempted to encourage this as a habit for my users for about a year, and not a single one doing it, I've had to come up with other solutions that takes it out of their hands. (It's not business-critical for us, however we try to encourage good security habits all around). So no, I don't think it is an automatic reaction f…

> I've had to come up with other solutions that takes it out of their hands.

I guess this means setting the timer really low, so that it auto locks after a very short time?

Re: Child tweets gibberish from US nuclear-agency account

#32
post #8

Since a long time ago it's clear that social media (and bank) accounts need multi signature and 2FA support to allow advanced workflows. Of course it can only be achieved securely with an open standard that allows any combination of these deployed on all platforms (I'm OK with making it payed-only enterprise feature as long as the US military and presindent and maybe Elon Musk has enough money to pay for the feature)…

How does any of that solve the “child types jibberish on an unlocked laptop”?

A better feature would be for laptop cameras to auto logout the user when they step away and let them log back in without authentication within 15 min. I think that better solves the unattended laptop problem than anything else. You can kind of get there with BLE keys but face authentication would work much better for presence detection (maybe do both BLE + face).

Re: Child tweets gibberish from US nuclear-agency account

#34

Isn't the automatic reaction of a Windows desktop/laptop user to lock their workstation (Ctrl-Alt-Del, Enter, Enter) if they leave for any reason? Edit: that was a great Chaos Monkey to reiterate security hygiene. Or was it a Mini Chaos Monkey? https://netflix.github.io/chaosmonkey/

At work, yes, always, because it's company policy and I can be officially reprimanded for leaving the computer unlocked and people actively look for this violation. At home, never, ever. This person was working from home.

Though, I admit, if I'm working late and I'm the only one left in the building then I don't lock the computer.

I'd imagine many computer uses don't know how to lock their computers if they weren't taught by IT - many "obvious" things to a tech savvy person are unknown by your average office worker (you can't imagine how many people I've taught to use CTRL+F)

Also, the shortcut is Windows Key+L.

Re: Child tweets gibberish from US nuclear-agency account

#35

Good thing it was a kid and not his cat; a cat would have declared war.

(only because I was watching it again last night - and you are getting downvoted) Gentlemen, you can't fight in here. This is the war room!

Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous Communist plot we have ever had to face?

Re: Child tweets gibberish from US nuclear-agency account

#36
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Isn't the automatic reaction of a Windows desktop/laptop user to lock their workstation Having attempted to encourage this as a habit for my users for about a year, and not a single one doing it, I've had to come up with other solutions that takes it out of their hands. (It's not business-critical for us, however we try to encourage good security habits all around). So no, I don't think it is an automatic reaction f…

IIRC, the trick is practical jokes! Change desktop backgrounds, move icons around, leave goofy/giant text Word documents, etc.

Or Slack everyone with "I'm a noob!"...

Re: Child tweets gibberish from US nuclear-agency account

#37
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't used Windows in a loong time, so I guess it is. ;)

Tux + L then. :)

Oh nice. Or Ctrl-Command-Q on my last mac, a mini from 2012. (It does have an upgraded fast SSD, big HDD, and 16 GiB.)

Re: Child tweets gibberish from US nuclear-agency account

#38

Isn't the automatic reaction of a Windows desktop/laptop user to lock their workstation (Ctrl-Alt-Del, Enter, Enter) if they leave for any reason? Edit: that was a great Chaos Monkey to reiterate security hygiene. Or was it a Mini Chaos Monkey? https://netflix.github.io/chaosmonkey/

I’m pretty sure I’m the only person in my 200 person office that presses Win+L when leaving my computer

Would they include accountants, IT people, managers, and insiders? If so -> D:

Re: Child tweets gibberish from US nuclear-agency account

#39
TL;DR: Parent forgot to lock computer child typed gibberish.

But then it's just a twitter account, sure from the US nuclear-agency, but so what. Social media accounts get hacked all the time so this is IMHO not really that serious...

...if the computer isn't also used for more "high-security" applications, in which case I'm worried because of non appropriate screen locking setups might imply non appropriate security in other parts of the setup, too.

Post reply on HN