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

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

#511

Post by asdff » Fri, Jan 08, 2021, 9:27 PM UTC

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #324

jandrese wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FDE only works if the machine is powered off. If a machine is stolen while it is still running there's a risk the user account could be compromised. Depending how sophisticated your adversary is they could potentially completely compromise the machine and extract all of the data. When you have physical access and no time pressure the options are vast.

> Depending how sophisticated your adversary is The videos I saw don't inspire much dread, there, but they may give the laptop to someone that can do digital forensics. Lots of LEOs in that lot. They would be smart enough to stay out of the building, but might have been waiting for someone to come out with something like that. But, as someone pointed out, a lot of the folks wouldn't bother trying to read anything. Th…

Who is to say that a few opportunistic spies weren't in that push looking for anything of interest? Historically, this has been the case during these sorts of events. When the Stasi HQ was overwhelmed by protestors, Western intelligence agents were the first in the building securing lots of information.

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

#512

Post by rhino369 » Fri, Jan 08, 2021, 9:29 PM UTC

chrisco255 wrote: post #501

rayiner wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Capitol Police generally don’t (and aren’t equipped to) repel a mob entering the building. That wasn’t just for this event. It’s always like this. Trump’s “show of force” during the BLM protests (where he brought in the national guard) was an aberration for that reason.

This isn't the first mass protest in DC. Why is this the first time they were able to get into the Capitol while in session?

Typically they don't try to. But people have gotten into the capitol to interrupt things before.

Five Congressmen were shot by Puerto Rican nationalists on the floor of the house in the 50s.

Protestors interrupt things fairly often. Happened during the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings and again during the vote.

This is probably the most overwhelmed the Capitol has been since the British captured it.

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

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Post by rootusrootus » Fri, Jan 08, 2021, 9:29 PM UTC

bakuninsbart wrote: post #372

johnnyballgame wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Optimistic thinking. Chances are it has many PDF and PowerPoint files scattered on it. And probably a shared user account where the files fill up a Windows desktop.

Pelosi is old enough for typewriters being new technology, I don't trust in her having the hand over it personally. But after the number of big hacks in the last few years I'd hope the guys in charge of general security laid down some ground rules.

I wouldn't be surprised if Pelosi doesn't really use a computer much (at work), and to the extent that she does it is completely managed by her aides.

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

#514

Post by munificent » Fri, Jan 08, 2021, 9:30 PM UTC

abnry wrote: post #400

This is yet another aspect that makes these recent events so depressing. I don't think I've ever felt this low and ashamed as an American before. How could the government even allow such a security breach to happen?

> How could the government even allow such a security breach to happen?

Because some of them wanted the coup to succeed.

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

#515

Post by asdff » Fri, Jan 08, 2021, 9:30 PM UTC

impartial-word wrote: post #482

eftychis wrote: post #356

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The idea here is some foreign actor agent (that could be a U.S. citizen by the way) could have participated in storming/ breaking and entering the capitol. Looks can be deceiving.

It happened in Russia, when KGB agents got access to the US embassy as firemen during an actual fire https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-05-01-mn-1029-s...

It happened in east germany when western intellegence agents were the some of the first to enter the Stasi hq

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

#516

Post by foobarbaz989812 » Fri, Jan 08, 2021, 9:31 PM UTC

gnusty_gnurc wrote: post #483

hilbertseries wrote: post #473

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't support CHAZ and I never said I did. Claiming to secede for a couple of blocks in a neighborhood in Seattle, is incredibly stupid and dangerous. My point here is the scope of things, armed insurrectionists stormed the capitol building. Three pipe bombs were recovered and disarmed. What do you think would have happened if the person who laid the pipe bombs had gotten to Nancy Pelosi? Further the President of t…

> My point here is the scope of things My point is the scope of things too. There was complete chaos across the country last year. With many reminiscent if not worse scenes of complete disregard for public spaces and institutions. The media was practically giddy about justifications of why we shouldn't be opposing the destruction of statues of the founding fathers. Freaking abolitionist statues were targeted. There i…

How are you conscionably comparing the treatment of public spaces vs the attempted physical violence against democratically elected representatives carrying out their statutory duty? Are you just a total idiot or a neo-nazi?

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

#517

Post by rootusrootus » Fri, Jan 08, 2021, 9:32 PM UTC

35fbe7d3d5b9 wrote: post #46

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…

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…

I agree. One of my favorite aspects of visiting DC is the remarkable extent to which ordinary citizens have access to the workings of government. Sure, there's some security, but mostly to keep things orderly, not secret.

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

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Post by asdff » Fri, Jan 08, 2021, 9:32 PM UTC

radicalbyte wrote: post #70

danans wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IIUC that wasn't her desktop, but rather one of a staffer. The desk the insurrectionist had his boots on in that photo was also not hers. It was in her office, though.

Pelosi is in her 80s and a politician, it's common for people in that generation to not actually use computers themselves but rely on their assistants to "do the computer stuff".

It's also common for important people to have secretaries managing their affairs.

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

#519

Post by CompuHacker » Fri, Jan 08, 2021, 9:35 PM UTC

baybal2 wrote: post #355

snoshy wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems safe to assume that the Speaker of the House and her aides would have access to classified national intelligence that might not be open to the world, and would be valuable in it's own right. Things like progress and updates with Covid vaccines, their deployment plans, and lack of security around them would make information like it ripe for the black market and adversary governments in these times.

What would enemy spies get out of that. Even prima fascie top military secrets like battle plans (those must be updated and shuffled regularly to prevent a situation exactly like that) have very little immediate usefulness. It's 21st century, it's beyond anybody's ability to hide things like size, dislocation, and basic capabilities of your force

Just wondering, small thing; did you mean to type "disposition" instead of "dislocation"?

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

#520

Post by 83 » Fri, Jan 08, 2021, 9:37 PM UTC

johannes1234321 wrote: post #371

ojbyrne wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t think it’s too much of a conspiracy theory to think that some foreign intelligence operative might have sensed a opportunity on Wednesday.

This would require them to be in the front line early. I think it's more likely that somebody was randomly there and saw the opportunity. If you look at the videos most seem to be surprised to be in some of low manner. If you have some operative in there you increase chaos by creating some small fire or something ...

Would they have had to be there early? Russian embassy isn't that far away and I think rioters were in there plenty long (wasn't it a couple hours?) for someone to walk over, pay 20 dollars for a trump flag, and walk in unnoticed. I wouldn't be surprised if our embassies and CIA outposts have people ready to take advantage of such situations in other countries.