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Child tweets gibberish from US nuclear-agency account

bbc.com

151–160 of 220 posts

Re: Child tweets gibberish from US nuclear-agency account

#151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's the thing: sometimes the lock screen on Windows 10 doesn't work and you can get back to the desktop simply by swiping up even when you think you should have to re-enter your password or PIN. Note that I have face ID disabled because I got really fed up of my computer unlocking itself just because I'd gone back to my desk to pick up something I'd forgotten when I locked it and walked away. This always seemed in…

>you can get back to the desktop simply by swiping What exactly do you mean by "swiping up"? Are you using Win10 on a tablet?

I have a Dell XPS laptop equipped with a touchscreen.

Re: Child tweets gibberish from US nuclear-agency account

#153
post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Some more: Change their profile photo (github/slack/etc). Flip their monitor orientation. Swap to left-handed mouse buttons (or vice-versa). Go on Amazon and add some "interesting" things to their wishlist/cart. Go on Youtube and "like" a bunch of random videos.

I miss the good old days of Vista where there was a straight keyboard command to change monitor orientation. It was something like win+shift+arrow so everyone would prank each other with it until it was removed.

Re: Child tweets gibberish from US nuclear-agency account

#154
post #148

The responsible agency is rightfully embarrassed by this oversight, and has now taken stringent measures to ensure something like this never happens again - Henceforth, all tweets can only ever be sent from a remote-desktop server that has to be hosted in a security-clearance-5 site - In order to access the remote-desktop, 2 government employees, who both have 10+ years of government experience, will need to jointly…

Non-Parenthood and celebacy are now a requirements for any governmental position. Never will this proud nation be scarred by something this embarrassing again.

Re: Child tweets gibberish from US nuclear-agency account

#155

I don't see how this is as big a deal as people make it out to be. The person in charge of this account probably has nothing to do with anything that remotely matters. You wouldn't worry about your 401k if the asset manager's twitter account posted some gibberish.

Probably because it is the "official" twitter account; and thus people will assume the tweets to be official messages. An agency responsible for nuclear weapons tweeting some gibberish is certainly scary for some.

Re: Child tweets gibberish from US nuclear-agency account

#156
post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if the child were a little older and typed something related to launching missiles as a joke?

Is it standard practice to tweet about it when launching a nuclear attack?

It's actually a requirement; nuclear launches are just a Twitter webhook

Re: Child tweets gibberish from US nuclear-agency account

#157

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/

Wasn’t it Windows+L?

I still always do CTRL-ALT-DEL and enter, enter, like the op. Might be age related; I guess we really need to do a poll.

This may be because I've always hated the windows key, and would sometimes seek out keyboards that didn't have one.

Re: Child tweets gibberish from US nuclear-agency account

#158
post #118

I don't see how this is as big a deal as people make it out to be. The person in charge of this account probably has nothing to do with anything that remotely matters. You wouldn't worry about your 401k if the asset manager's twitter account posted some gibberish.

What if the child were a little older and typed something related to launching missiles as a joke?

Nothing would happen. Hawaii sent out an alert to every single cellphone in the state that an ICBM was imminently approaching Honolulu a few years back, and no one outside of Hawaii remembers that anymore today.

Re: Child tweets gibberish from US nuclear-agency account

#159

"Nuclear agency" makes it sound like the NRC or DoE. This was U.S. Strategic Command, i.e. the nuclear weapons agency.

The DoE is also a nuclear weapons agency. Don't let the friendly name fool you. It's the DoE that designs and builds the US' bombs.

Re: Child tweets gibberish from US nuclear-agency account

#160
But how is access to twitter account in any way connected with oversight duties?

Most likely there is somebody hired to post to the twitter account from time to time, who has absolutely no oversight responsibilities or access to anything more substantial, they work from home and they forgot to lock their computer.

How is that a story for BBC? Nothing really more interesting happening?

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