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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

#671

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that's nonsense. Access to a lawmaker or representative in a village may work like that. When you represent a state of 20 million, access means making an appointment and going through security clearance. There is a voting mechanism, a free press and various other mechanisms to back me up if I am consistently deterred from speaking to my public representative. But I'm in no way expecting to just walk in there,…

I also walked into my congressperson’s office when I was on a field trip as kid. The security was similar to going to the airport. > Might as well argue that you should be able to just walk into the white house and speak to the top public representative. Entirely different situation. The reason that people need to talk with the legislature is because those are the people’s representatives.

> Entirely different situation. The reason that people need to talk with the legislature is because those are the people’s representatives.

Totally different, were it not for the fact the president is also the Chief of State: The chief public representative of a country.

Besides, even if this wasn't the case, humor me and suppose it was (which it actually is), would you then conclude that the president should simply be accessible at will by 300 million Americans? It makes absolutely no sense.

Just because something is publicly accessible doesn't mean you throw all reason out the window. Plenty of national parks are simultaneously open to everyone, as well as require registration and some basic ground rules to entrance. Similarly, it's entirely uncontroversial to argue that accessing the capitol is freely available to all, but there will be some minimum security checks, and some areas (e.g. private offices or places holding confidential data) are off-limits. Virtually all democracies have no problem separating visitor's areas from private working offices, and implementing appropriate controls in both.

The notion that the speaker of the house's laptop could be casually stolen by people without heavy equipment walking in is a joke, pure and simple. Claiming it has something to do with the fact she's a representative thereby implying her laptop should just be freely accessible instead of secured by some basic measures, as some (not you) have done in this thread, makes no sense if you ask me.

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

#673
post #153

> 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…

If it’s a shared machine for projecting notes, chances are it has nothing stored locally.

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

#674
post #602
post #544

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hilarious, but definitely not a spy. The Russians aren't so amateur as to send an undercover agent to the US who can't speak English. If they missed the opportunity at the Capitol the other day to plant listening devices though, they must be kicking themselves now.

I'd say Russia definitely has at least a subset of very amateurish spies. An example coming to mind is the Skripal poisoning in Salisbury, UK.

Isn't Stalin rumored to have said, "There's a certain quality in quantity" in response to criticism that quality beats quantity? I think the quote is one of those unproven maybe-it-happened-but-we-have-no-solid-evidence things, but it seems to sum up the Russian approach to tanks and troops in WWII well enough, and from stories I've read, seems to be reflect their approach in the spy world as well. They are immensely practical.

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

#675
post #153

> 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…

If it’s a shared machine for projecting notes, chances are it has nothing stored locally.

There's a lot more value to a conference room PC than residual files.

It's a machine probably on the same LAN as a lot of the meeting attendees in the conference room, probably has Bluetooth radio as well, may have wifi radios, probably has access to a calendar of meetings and attendees (as a defined room resource). Depending on how the PC is used (a room system vs the ol' conference room PC) it may also a key logger would be valuable.

Reminds me of the scene in Firefly: "let me get this straight, you put multiple high-ranking intelligence officials in the same room as a psychic??" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AC9SF7TOyHQ

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

#676
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?

Don't feel low. A mob of angry citizens storming the capital, happens all over the world and has lead to democratic reform in many a nation.

Unions stormed the capitol of Wisconsin: https://www.commondreams.org/news/2011/03/10/general-strike-...

Apparently they were only occupying but these guys taking pictures were trying to overthrow the government. Go figure.

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

#677

Earlier quoted context omitted.

full disk encryption is also possible with a shared computer. TPM and PBA are some keywords

Possible? Very. Likelihood of the computer's login password and thus hard drive decryption key attached to the computer's screen with a post-it note thus obviating the protection gained from full disk encryption? On a shared computer, high.

The user doesn't need to enter a password if they are using a TPM.

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

#678

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…

[deleted]

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

#679
post #568

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is almost exactly the same argument that police defenders make when the police shoot an unarmed minority individual in any random city.

I'd agree that police defenders often use the rhetoric of "approaching a cop with his gun drawn" or "being somewhere you shouldn't," but surely we can make a distinction between those killed in public areas versus this woman who was trespassing in a very important federal facility, specifically to impede a very important government procedure.

> trespassing in a very important federal facility

She was part of an armed mob trying in the process of breaking into the speakers lobby that posed an imminent threat to members of Congress, whom members of the mob had moments before loudly expressed concern were trying to leave.

“Trespassing” wasn't at all the issue.

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

#680
post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it’s a shared machine for projecting notes, chances are it has nothing stored locally.

These folks don't trust one another with information, so it seems unlikely that they'd pass around a laptop loaded with one anothers presentations.

Uh... their staffers have been caught with their pants down on multiple occassions..

https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2018/08/01/details-chinese...

https://www.eurasiareview.com/11122020-eric-swalwells-honeyp...

So yeah, pardon if I'm not full of confidence in the levels of discretion these guys exercise.

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