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Laptop stolen from Pelosi's office during storming of U.S. Capitol, says aide
- hikerclimber 6y agogood. I hope it had classified materials.
- stuff4ben 6y agoIt was apparently stolen from a conference room and used only for presentations. Still a bad look for Capitol Police and physical security operations.
- nikolaj 6y agoI can't even count the number of times I have seen privileged information dropped onto a "presentation" laptop during a meeting. I hope they are better at controlling that than most.
- jmt_ 6y agoYep, plus the configuration of the laptop could possibly be of value. Depending on how it's setup, you could see the AD domain name, naming pattern of usernames and domain computers, setup and names of network drives, group policy settings, etc. Nothing too crazy on its own but could help facilitate a larger breach. Having a portable computer that's already configured to connect to the network you want to breach is possibly pretty useful.
- jacquesm 6y agoLet's hope the drive is encrypted and that it has a half decent boot password on it.
- jorblumesea 6y agoSnowden's leaks were largely NSA presentation materials. Not implying that Pelosi had TSCI/noforn materials but just saying, being used as presentation doesn't mean much. Especially if it's connected to internal networks.
- ascales 6y agoClearly a big deal and congressional IT staff are going to have a crazy few weeks ahead of them. However, my understanding is that any classified information would have to be in a SCIF. I assume that would be the case with congresspeople as well. I've also heard that the congressional paging system locks devices when an emergency is announced, but haven't seen that corroborated anywhere. Anyone know if that's true?
- yuliyp 6y agoThere are lots of different levels of classification. Not all interaction with all classified information needs to happen in a SCIF.
- Pils 6y agoPlus, classification is reserved for government documents, right? If someone's goal was to specifically expose "DNC secrets," a la Watergate, the most damaging information would likely not be "classified" in the formal sense of the word.
- tsomctl 6y agoCounter evidence: the protesters were saying that they saw computers unlocked with email still open.
- SteveNuts 6y agoTruly a nightmare situation. I really hope they have a solid means to recover the stolen assets. Does anyone have insight into what types of tracking high level government laptops would have?
- dboreham 6y agoNot really a nightmare when any janitor or cleaner could have stolen the same laptop.
- TheHypnotist 6y agoNot just the laptop. Access to offices and assets, potential for network security issues, the whole things is a nightmare. Edit: Do you people not understand physical security of network assets?
- wxnx 6y agoThat may or may not be true, but I feel it's worth mentioning that often those individuals need some level of security clearance. See listings on job boards for janitorial staff/etc. that require security clearance (often at private corporations, like defence contractors, but I see no reason why it wouldn't extend to public employment i.e. at the Capitol).
- joana035 6y agoI know thinkpads has "computrace" in the BIOS, but alongside with intel ME, perhaps the device can be, at least, erased.
- sudosysgen 6y agoIf the thieves are competent then the laptop already has the wifi antenna removed and the drive taken out.
- coldcode 6y agoIf they followed proper security it would be encrypted. All of our Macs at my employer automatically have it on.
- spzb 6y agoGiven that Pelosi's desktop was logged on and unlocked, there's a fair chance the laptop was too which would render full disk encryption useless. As long as whoever stole it didn't close it and send it to sleep anyway.
- meheleventyone 6y agoWas that actually her computer though?
- danans 6y agoIIUC 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.
- radicalbyte 6y agoPelosi 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".
- asdff 6y agoIt's also common for important people to have secretaries managing their affairs.
- coldcode 6y agoNot the brightest of bulbs, I bet they closed it to carry it away.
- 6y ago
- slg 6y ago>Nancy Pelosi told fellow House Democrats that she had received reassurances about safeguards to prevent Donald Trump from launching a nuclear attack Maybe this is too political or HN, but this is the bigger news on that page. It tells me we don't have a functioning chain of command and our government is currently responding to a hard coup attempt with a soft coup which is also pretty scary. Trump should either be removed through the 25th amendment or he should be president with all its power and responsibility. Putting "safeguards" in place so no one really knows who is in charge can be dangerous. Hopefully nothing too serious happens in the next week and a half. EDIT: To be clear and to address the multiple replies, I am not a Trump fan or a supporter of nuclear weapons or anything along those lines. The problem here is that there needs to be a clear chain of command in case of an actual emergency. People being insubordinate to the president and taking on power that they do not constitutionally could be extremely dangerous in an emergency. The unelected bureaucrats of the government shouldn't be the ones making these decisions.
- 96394032 6y agoI would hope all entities with nuclear capabilities have de facto safeguards in place to prevent anyone from actually launching a nuclear attack. Although, I would also hope they wouldn't talk about them as it diminishes the deterrent effect that is the only potentially good thing about such weapons. Nuclear weapons should never be used but people who can use them should not say that.
- slg 6y agoI read that comment as saying there are extra safeguards currently in place that go above and beyond the normal safeguards. If the existing safeguards for a normal president would be enough, Pelosi being third in line for the president likely wouldn't have to ask about them.
- Dylan16807 6y agoThe safeguard is mostly a bunch of literal guards.
- baybal2 6y ago
- verdverm 6y agoWhat sensational news over at the guardian. Look at how they stuffed the URL with keywords
- aaomidi 6y agoIt's because when you scroll down it has other news stories in it.
- vmchale 6y agoI feel like someone is gonna get in big trouble for this. The dude who stole her mail wasn't even wearing a mask.
- danans 6y agoIf it is a laptop of consequence (even if not classified), hopefully it had security and tracking capabilities that can be activated. That info would probably be helpful for law enforcement and prosecutors. This all assumes that congress, the DNC, or whoever owns the laptop has upped their personal computer op-sec significantly since the DNC hacks of 2016.
- mumblemumble 6y agoBeyond 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 room.
- ProAm 6y agoHa! These people are in their 70's and 80's, getting any legitimate security is near impossible. Try telling your grandparents not to play flash games on their computer. The best security should have been by the entrances of the building. Edit: Pelosi is 80 years old.
- ben_w 6y agoAge isn’t the problem, lack of digital security literacy might well be. My dad was born in ‘39, he did a degree in electrical engineering, and it took until something like his second job after graduation for his employer to send him on a two-day training course for the new-fangled [0] invention of something called “software”. He then worked in software from that course until retirement. However, he never understood RSA despite working on UK military IFF systems. [0] “new-fangled” was his description; the closest he came to acknowledging Ada Lovelace before I learned of her was to complain about the language Ada.
- Fauntleroy 6y agoTo prevent unauthorized entry, Capitol Police would have had to put up a fight. Seems they were unwilling to do so. If America continues down this path Russia (and others) are just gonna have a field day.
- bilbo0s 6y agoYou're being naive if you believe that Russia and others didn't already have a field day at the Capitol yesterday. I wouldn't worry as much about what these guys took from offices and server rooms as I would worry about what little digital gifts these guys may have left behind in the offices and server rooms.
- astura 6y agoThe link appears to be some sort of live news feed and right now unrelated stuff about covid, articles of impeachment, and Trump's power to launch nukes is dominating the page, you really have to scroll to get to the laptop story I think this is the direct link: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2021/jan/08/donald-trump-capitol-impeachment-joe-biden-election-coronavirus-covid-live-updates?page=with:block-5ff898c38f08ef644fc2b536#block-5ff898c38f08ef644fc2b536 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2021/jan/08/donald-... The "story" is also really just a link to this tweet: https://twitter.com/Drew_Hammill/status/1347598063620206592?s=20 https://twitter.com/Drew_Hammill/status/1347598063620206592?...
- spzb 6y agoThanks. I did post the direct link but it seems to have been truncated
- stonesweep 6y agoHere is the actual source of information which should be the link: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-cyber/laptop-stolen-from-pelosis-office-during-storming-of-u-s-capitol-says-aide-idUSKBN29D2HA https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-cyber/laptop... edit: it's confusing as to what the actual, documented source other than "he said she said" is after looking at all three edit edit: a previous HN submission which didn't gain comment traction pointed at Reuters: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25688418 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25688418
- telaelit 6y agoThey should consider ANY hardware in the Capitol Building during the insurrection to be compromised.
- stefantalpalaru 6y agoI can't wait to see what information was liberated by this orange revolution come home to roost. Not that it will slow down the corporate takeover, but it will be of historical interest.
- misiti3780 6y agoI would assume they can wipe it remotely though no? I guess that would assume they connected to the internet though.
- bargl 6y agoNo shit something got stolen. You can't have that kind of insanity inside of a workplace and expect to secure every device. There are multiple layers of security for the congress people, and many of them were exploited. They don't practice putting on masks and running their asses out of a building. I'm sure every staffer was thinking, "Did I get everything that needs to be secured?". No they were thinking, "I'm getting the hell out of here." Especially if they weren't part of the tribe storming the castle, (aka a Democrat).
- aborsy 6y agoHence the importance of the full disk encryption!
- java-man 6y agoAnd multi-factor authentication!
- bovermyer 6y agoAnd remote self-destruct!
- ISL 6y agoBetter than that might be an internet-free LoJack. Finding a laptop thief might be at least as valuable as retaining the encrypted information that's on disk. Edit: Also, stealing a laptop that belongs to the office of the US Speaker of the House will essentially never end well. There are endless examples to suggest that yesterday's fracas wasn't thought-through by the participants. This is one of them.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- jandrese 6y agoThere's also plenty of evidence that it was planned, like people openly planning doing exactly this on forums. They had merch printed up. It was Trump who either wasn't in on the planning or got cold feet when the time for the actual coup came.
- thehappypm 6y agoAnd my axe!
- Grazester 6y agoCame 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.
- OnlyRepliesToBS 6y agowe need sweeping legislation without time to think about it
- neolog 6y agoWhat 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?
- Ericson2314 6y agoHave a shit battery + full disk encryption + linux with broken hibernate support :D
- x86_64Ubuntu 6y agoDid Linux ever fix the hibernate stuff? I remember 5 years ago, it was a MUST to disable it, because the system would go to hibernate and never wake up again without a hard restart.
- neolog 6y agoOn most of my linux computers it always works. On one of them it works 90% of the time, which sounds high but is really annoying. (Probably an interaction with AMDGPU.)
- cat199 6y agoif you are talking about 'suspend' generally, this really depends on the model (read: drivers), not sure on hibernate itself (since i just sleep)
- ChuckNorris89 6y agoSleep and hibernate is not really a linux problem, it's more of a OEM closed-source firmware implementation which is only tested to work on Windows problem so the linux devs have to eyeball it and pray that it works which makes it a constant game of whack-a-mole. So until there is an open standard for firmware used by all OEMs it will never be truly fixed. Hell, sleep doesn't even work half the time on my XPS15 with Windows so Dell can't even get that right. That's why the likes of System76 develop their own firmware.
- nostromo 6y agoAlbeit ill-gotten gains, if this lands in Wikileaks’ hands it’ll be fascinating.
- Ericson2314 6y agoI bet it won't be, cause it's congress. I'm no small stater, but we need to find a way to put the interesting stuff back in democratic control...like a parliamentary system that recognizes executive vs legislative division is a bad idea.
- nostromo 6y agoIt’s not just Congress, it’s Nancy Pelosi. Mitch McConnell’s documents would be similarly interesting. I’d love to see how these two speak to their donors and each other vs how they speak to the public, for example.
- Bedon292 6y agoI am kind of curious about that. Are they allowed to use the same computer for official business and campaign work? I know a fuss was made in the past about someone using the wrong phone in the White House. In theory donor interactions should be done on non-publicly funded devices. Though I doubt that actually stops them. I am curious what policy actually states.
- hanniabu 6y ago> I’d love to see how these two speak to their donors and each other vs how they speak to the public, for example. All you need to do is look at the stimulus bill. It's full of "I'll give you this if you give me that" items.
- cabaalis 6y agoYou'd never see any of it. Depending upon who it damages, it either (a) wouldn't be published, or (b) it would be suppressed by media outlets for violating some obscure policy.
- tmpz22 6y agoEvery 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.
- ehsankia 6y agoIf 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.”
- boringg 6y agoWow. Not the last thing that we are going to find out that was stolen I'm sure. This whole thing is straight up crazy.
- ehsankia 6y agoThere are tons of pictures of ransacked offices with papers everywhere. I'm sure a ton of personal belonging was either stolen or broken.
- whalesalad 6y ago> 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 departments are notorious for over-granting privileges to these shared machines due to the mixed use they typically recieve. After X help desk complaints you get fed up and check all the boxes in the permissions manager. Hopefully, though, it is locked up and the data is inaccessible.
- simonh 6y agoIf it’s a shared machine for projecting notes, chances are it has nothing stored locally.
- DevX101 6y agoWhat's the protocol to secure all devices/network after incident like this week? Should all hardware left behind considered possibly compromised?
- TheCapn 6y agoI was thinking even just merely about physical security while this was going on. One bad actor going from room to room planting listening devices would take a short bit to weed out no?
- amenghra 6y agohttps://twitter.com/doctorow/status/1347244300527013889 https://twitter.com/doctorow/status/1347244300527013889: "Resecuring the Capitol's IT infrastructure should probably involve shredding every device, cable and thumb-drive, tearing open every light-socket and power-outlet, and even then, it will be hard to fully trust the building and its systems."
- tyre 6y agoIf this is done, does everyone lose all of their unbacked up work or is there some way to recover it safely? There are for sure internal notes, draft bills and changes, etc. on these computers that is not backed up.
- saul_goodman 6y agoHeh, congress doesn't write any legislation any more, that all happens on K-street now by lobbyists.
- blisterpeanuts 6y agoThat actually sounds like a good idea anyway. There should be a full cleaning, de-bugging, and wipe every device on a regular basis.
- dhagz 6y ago
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- ed25519FUUU 6y agoStorming? Let’s not get ahead ourselves here. The capitol police literally opened the door and let them inside: https://twitter.com/gatewaypundit/status/1347615270504955904?s=20 https://twitter.com/gatewaypundit/status/1347615270504955904... Which explains this hilarious picture of a 70-year old grandma “coup plotter” posing with coffee mug. https://twitter.com/TheRealEWILLZ/status/1346999976899932161?s=20 https://twitter.com/TheRealEWILLZ/status/1346999976899932161...
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
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- doomslice 6y agoMaybe this will change your mind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=20m04s&v=cJOgGsC0G9U https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=20m04s&v=cJOgGsC0G9U
- jeffbee 6y agoI admire the restraint on display here, but if even one of those guys had been black, the cops would have iced every one of them. Imagine someone grabbing a cop's gas mask at a BLM march and not being dead 2 seconds later.
- rlt 6y agoAre you aware an unarmed white woman was shot and killed by police at the capitol that day? Yes, on average black folks are treated more unfairly than white folks by police, but exaggerated claims like “the cops would have iced every one of them” help no one.
- rtkwe 6y agoShe was climbing through a barricaded door through a broken window with a person with a drawn gun on the other side protecting who knows who, armed or not the outcome was kind of a given when she decided that was a good idea. Not the best comparison to put up against the treatment of BLM protestors throughout the year.
- jjkaczor 6y agoMyself, I would be more worried about any keyloggers, or wifi/cell interception, "man-in-the-middle" devices being left behind...
- Bedon292 6y agoWhile not congress, so I can't say for sure, I have been around government and other enterprise systems. Some measures they had in place: - Disabled USB Ports (except whitelisted peripherals) - User accounts don't have permission to install anything at all - If you plug a deceive with a different mac address than expected into an ethernet port the port locks down until a sysadmin verifies it and manually unlocks it - Remote imaging of systems, including remote system verification - No wifi on actual network While its all a pain in the ass to deal with. Hopefully at least some of that is in place and reduces the likelihood of many of those issues.
- dmurray 6y ago> If you plug a deceive with a different mac address than expected into an ethernet port the port locks down until a sysadmin verifies it and manually unlocks it Reckon they'd immediately block this laptop's MAC address after it gets reported stolen? If not, that's reason enough to steal it - clone the MAC address and plug in your own device which is now whitelisted. Of course this isn't enough on its own and you likely need some compromised credentials too.
- Bedon292 6y agoProbably would remove it as soon as its reported yes. Even if they didn't you would still have to take the device back in the building to that same exact port to connect.
- jjkaczor 6y agoProbably (let's hope - but, if I have seen anything in the last 4-years, it has been a constant, non-stop erosion of competency in the US government) - and, most likely the insurgents just didn't plan anything "long-term" or tricky. Question though... Don't hardware-based keyloggers present as a "keyboard", and isn't that a generic device which would probably be whitelisted?
- cobookman 6y agoI'm surprised congressional office's laptops do not embed remotely detonated explosives/destruction devices triggered with sat or cellular comms.
- emiliobumachar 6y agoIf you mean able to damage the holder, you'd need to triple-check they can't be unintentionally activated or activated by untrusted parties. Even if just a self-destruct, you'd need to double-check. Bricking the entirety of Congress' laptops have a lot of fun and profit potential.
- Jonnax 6y agoYou're surprised that politicians don't attach remotely detonated bombs to the laptops?
- cobookman 6y agoIn particular remotely denoted "Kill" devices. Which destroy the entirety of the laptops contents. Encryption by itself is likely not enough to secure the contents from a nation state actor.
- djsumdog 6y agoConsidering the competence of most politicians, I think it would easily solve a lot of problems if they did.
- snowwrestler 6y agoThere is nothing remotely that important on the laptops in a typical Congressional office.
- duxup 6y agoThere's no playing a little footsie with anti-democratic ideas and rhetoric and just getting 'a little' anti-democratic. That stuff will get out of hand and will come back to even bite the folks who thought they were part of it. Lindsey Graham was apparently accosted by a crowd at the airport so much security escorted him away.
- handelaar 6y agoI'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
- Balgair 6y agoVery much so. Imagine "The Thing" but with ~75 years more advancement. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_%28listening_device%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_%28listening_device%...
- LatteLazy 6y agoI'm here to save my country but I'll settle for a free laptop...
- traeregan 6y agoAssuming this laptop is old enough to have been accessed as a part of the SolarWinds breach, it may have been pwned twice now.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- wtfiswiththis 6y agoFYI one of the people in her office attended the Unite the Right Nazi rally. The same people Trump called special here he called "very fine" years ago after they rallied and murdered a girl.
- Bubbadoo 6y agoMore great news showing the competence level of our elected leadership.
- Pfhreak 6y agoWait, there were armed people storming the building and police supporting them. You think their first priority was, "Better secure this workstation attached to a projector!" and not, "Dear god I hope I don't get murdered today!"
- bdcravens 6y agoI feel sorry for whoever gets caught with it. They won't be charged with theft - they'll probably try to hit them with the worst cybersecurity charges they can dig up.
- tt433 6y agoWhy do you feel sorry for them exactly?
- bdcravens 6y agoI meant it as a figure of speech. If it's amongst the insurrectionists, they deserve all they have coming to them. If it ends up in somebody else's hands who wasn't involved, they may still be an example of.
- pcan77 6y agoGood, they deserve it.
- bdcravens 6y agoI assume the downvotes means my intended sarcasm didn't come through. To be clear, I hope everyone involved in the terroristic insurrection is prosecuted fully. We know that the government typically uses cybersecurity charges to attack cyber-libertarians, threatening decades of prison time (think Aaron Swartz) - I hope they show the same vigor here.
- JKCalhoun 6y agoYes, I think you're sarcasm was missed. Also, cyber-libertarians shouldn't get a pass.
- tehjoker 6y agoCool, hopefully it is loaded with damaging emails. She needs to go. I bet if it is there's loads of discussion denigrating the American people and planning to sacrifice their lives and their finances pointlessly during the pandemic. Obviously, the coupists believe even worse things, but what do I care if my political opponents destroy each other?
- davesque 6y agoWait, aren't we all privacy advocates here? Who here doesn't say certain things in private that they wouldn't say in public? Any time I see anything like a leaked e-mail story, I remind myself of this simple law of human nature. If private communications do end up coming out of this, we need to all remember this.
- tehjoker 6y agoThe government is the one depriving us of privacy at a scale unknown in human history. Turn-about is fair play.
- charonn0 6y agoEven if such e-mails existed, by stealing the laptop they've tainted it as evidence except against themselves. i.e., You and the thief are similarly short sighted.
- tehjoker 6y agoAlso, as you may be aware, stolen emails have been able to be verified in the past. For one, you can ask the people implicated if they are real and look for contradictions between their stories or confirmations. You can check physical evidence if any exists. There are many things you can do. EDIT: My previous response, I misread your meaning at first. I don't care if they get prosecuted. They should be, they attempted a coup against the democracy. However, as I said, what do I care if they destroy each other? Pelosi is a villain that promotes the desires of the rich over the lives of the people numbering in the hundreds of thousands at this point. Being attacked by someone worse doesn't make her into someone that needs defending.
- jorblumesea 6y agoWhat an absolute mess. Whatever political spectrum you might be on, having people roaming around the halls of a sensitive government institution is not in the interest of any US citizen. Security of our institutions, elections and democracy should be a non-partisan issue.
- alacombe 6y agoWhy would it be of the interest of any US citizen for elected officials to have any "secret" ? Full transparency should be paramount.
- mcchew 6y agoCongress constantly gets briefed on things that are behind closed doors. Not to mention our president is also leader of the armed forces.
- davesque 6y agoI suppose then that you'd be happy to make any and all conversations you've had in private during recent years public for all to see.
- pessimizer 6y agoThat observation makes as much sense in context as when people compare the national debt to household debt. If the problem is that we might get to know what porn Pelosi likes or whether she has hemorrhoids, the theft of this laptop is trivial.
- alacombe 6y agoI've not been sworn to serve The People.
- jorblumesea 6y agoSecrets need to be kept in the intelligence world. It's naive to think we can be fully transparent on issues of methods and means. Congress needs to know things about our security apparatus but shouldn't be made public for obvious reasons. The entire idea of a representative democracy is we elect people to act for us. That includes knowing information that shouldn't be public and making the correct decision for the country.
- ljf 6y agoHow was every person leaving the building not searched by police as a condition of exit? The kettling and taking of details of (even peaceful) protesters in the UK is pretty standard now (I don't like it, but it is what seems to happen) - so why did they just let these people leave unchecked?
- tt433 6y agoDidn't fit the perp profile police expect (race)
- calmbeluga54 6y agoAre you suggesting that the profile for hackers isn't "white male"? Or are you just trying to ham-fist "cops are racist" into the convo?
- wonnage 6y agoyou missed the part where the cops let them in and took selfies
- hwillis 6y agoPresumably the same reason police moved barricades, waved them in, and took selfies with them.
- californical 6y agoI’m sorry but if you’re a couple of police officers in a room full of literal terrorists, of course you’re going to try to be as restrained and friendly as possible. You’re horribly outnumbered. They would be murdered if they tried to take on the crowd. They needed to wait for reinforcements to arrive, and meanwhile do their best to keep the crowd from going fully insane. They managed the situation with very few people getting hurt, and protected the politicians. Which is pretty good considering how few police there were. The main issue is why were there so few police there to begin with, so this could’ve been prevented in the first place.
- OpuRahman 6y agoEverything is now becomes as conspiracy theory but the reality is different.
- davesque 6y agoI swear the advent of Trump has precipitated an absolute crisis in critical thinking skills. Whenever I see people salivate at stories like this, waiting for the juicy details to get leaked, my heart dies a little. It's as if no one has any empathy or understanding that privacy is a necessary thing for society to function. It's almost never fair to judge a person based on their private life or private conversations. If this does end up "with Wikileaks", as some people here have mentioned, the outcome can only be bad. The average person cannot be trusted to make a level-headed assessment of anything like this. They'll latch onto damning sounding comments and magnify them to irresistible proportions and ensure that a completely imbalanced picture of those involved becomes the common view.
- iask 6y agoSounds like there were operatives embedded in the crowd and knew where and what to go after. The damage is done.
- nickik 6y agoTrillion doller defense budget and then unarmed morrons simply walk into the office of the most powerful individuals in the country and take stuff and walk out. The level of stupidity and incompetence for this to happen is breath taking.
- print_r 6y agoThe infosec aspect of this whole event has been fascinating to me. That tweet from that guy in Pelosi's office with the computer with her email open was pretty shocking. Every company I have ever worked for enforced the pc auto locking after 10 min or so of inactivity. Its unbelievable that the Capitol doesn't enforce this.
- spoonjim 6y agoIf you add up all the charges on breaking into the Capitol, the Speaker's office, the theft, the computer security laws, etc., they could probably get a 100 year sentence, and I hope they prosecute it fully.
- jakeinspace 6y agoThere needs to be a whole lot of 10+ year sentences handed out. Obviously anyone directly involved in the officer's death will have the book thrown at them and probably never see the outside of a cell again, but all these people need to be made an example of.
- veiant 6y agoMaybe they should have started handing out 10+ year sentences when people were burning down parts of cities.
- lakerz16 6y agostarting a fire at a Target is not quite the same thing as raiding the US Capitol filled with congress, staffers, and confidential documents (in an effort to overturn a national election).
- gurleen_s 6y agoAnd of course, the irony is that part of the frustrations from this summer’s protests is the fact that people of color get 10+ year sentences for things like drug offenses at a much higher rate than white people.
- wincy 6y agoThe difference is one of these buildings provides an important service that the American people can’t live without. The other, of course, is filled with politicians.
- blahyawnblah 6y agoDid they release the cause of death? The article I read said he collapsed after everything was done with (or for the most part). Can really pin that on anyone.
- kahrl 6y agoMaybe you can pin in on those who smashed his head in with a fire extinguisher? https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-ap-top-news-michael-pence-46933a828d7b12de7e3d5620a8a04583 https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-ap-top-news-michael-...
- dukeofdoom 6y agoI personally hope pictures will come out with Pelosi and Trump being secret lovers.
- abnry 6y agoThis 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?
- munificent 6y ago> How could the government even allow such a security breach to happen? Because some of them wanted the coup to succeed.
- dukeofdoom 6y agoDon'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.
- casefields 6y agoUnions stormed the capitol of Wisconsin: https://www.commondreams.org/news/2011/03/10/general-strike-thousands-storm-reoccupy-wisconsin-capitol-response-legislative-votes 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.
- abnry 6y agoIt is the ensuing "democratic reform" to come that gives me a stomach ache.
- pram 6y agoExactly how I felt when peasants stormed the bastille
- d33lio 6y agoUntil evidence is substantiated, we should assume the parties that be will try to continue to blow this out of proportion. It shouldn't be surprising that one of Pelosi's aides is going to try to make the breach of the capital sound like something bigger than it really was - you know... to come up with more excuses to expand the surveillance of innocent citizens. As a Biden voter who also went to BLM protests (can't believe I have to lead with this on HN nowadays...) I can honestly say that many of those events were more violent and destructive than what happened Wednesday. Yes - I believe the people who stormed the capital were morons and will all likely end up in federal "pound me in the ass" prison [0]. The pictures of staffers "cleaning up after the destruction" that show them just putting plastic cups into trash bags are hilarious. If only we could get both sides who disagree with the govt to cooperate and compromise - without a need to rely on gov to facilitate compromise maybe we could start to see light at the end of the tunnel? It's now clearer than ever that the government and even trump don't support what the people want. There's more than enough common ground to stop sending huge sums of money to other countries, to support small business (minority or otherwise) and be reasonable, the only thing standing in the way is division. Calling the other side inhuman or unworthy is walking into the same trap that gave us trump... 0 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBzvMLW0ii4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBzvMLW0ii4
- iso8859-1 6y ago@dang: I think this could be merged with https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25688418 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25688418
- tw04 6y agoOn its face I would say: well between cleaners and the public going in and out there's no way they'd have anything confidential on something like that. Then I remember the countless times I've been on a flight from SFO and seen executives with NDA documents pulled up on their laptops with no privacy screen and remember that it's entirely plausible this thing had something confidential. I just hope their default image included full disk encryption.
- _jcrossley 6y agoSo, is it fair to call this the worst US terrorist attack since 9/11?
- annoyingnoob 6y agoThose computers are supposed to have disk encryption and MFA. If not someone is in hot water.
- neuronic 6y agoJust a side note, to compare a slightly similar situation (with far less potential for violence). It happened in Germany several months and three officers defended the Reichstag building from radical anti-Corona protesters until reinforcements arrived. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pc-56opg-Xg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pc-56opg-Xg [cellphone source] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1AxyHaHYIY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1AxyHaHYIY [actual news] The key difference is that the German protesters didn't bring automatic weapons, molotov cocktails and pipe bombs. I sincerely hope federal authorities will get every single domestic terrorist involved in the Capitol storming.
- larrywright 6y agoThere was a great thread on Twitter about the infosec implications of this breach of the capitol. In short, you have to assume foreign state actors were among the people inside, and every piece of technology should be replaced. https://twitter.com/jacobian/status/1347001812889452545?s=20 https://twitter.com/jacobian/status/1347001812889452545?s=20
- khazhoux 6y agoAny word if Windows or MacOS? Does Windows have a "Find My Mac" equivalent?
- hikerclimber 6y agogood. hopefully we have more riots.
- leke 6y agoI hope they have some kind of tracking software on it that pings the location when it's on.
- SpaceManNabs 6y agoThis is nothing short of a national security incident.
- natas 6y agoI hope it didn't run solarwinds!
- bobbobb54444 6y agoWho cares, even if there’s something incriminating on it the media will never publish it unless it hurts republicans. Literal snorefest
- rufus_foreman 6y agoI guess the bright spot of all this is we haven't heard anyone talking about abolishing the police for a couple days now.
- hikerclimb 6y agoNice
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- ajsnigrutin 6y agoI always get excited when something like this happens, hoping for a torrent full of top secret data,.... and then reality hits - usually there is no torrent, just speculations - even if there is a torrent, nothing happens to those people doing whatever crimes are documented there
- bJGVygG7MQVF8c 6y agoThomas McInerney claims it was taken by JSOC personnel. He's made some outlandish claims elsewhere but I know they can operate domestically and in plainclothes, so I wouldn't dismiss it prima facie.