3 ms·

Also relevant: The DOGE team set up a Starlink satellite at the White House [1]. DOGE staff installed the terminal on the Eisenhower Executive Office Building

Also relevant: The DOGE team set up a Starlink satellite at the White House [1]. DOGE staff installed the terminal on the Eisenhower Executive Office Building roof in February 2025 without notifying White House communications or cybersecurity teams, ignoring their prior warnings [2]. The resulting "Starlink Guest" Wi-Fi used only a password—no usernames or two-factor authentication—unlike standard networks requiring full VPN tunneling and device logging. This allowed devices to evade monitoring, transmit untracked data outside secure channels, and potentially enable leaks or hacks, as noted by former officials and experts like ex-NSA hacker Jake Williams. A confrontation ensued with Secret Service when DOGE accessed the roof unannounced [3]. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/17/us/politics/elon-musk-starlink-white-house.html https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/17/us/politics/elon-musk-sta... [2] https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/06/07/starlink-white-house-security-doge-musk/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/06/07/starlin... [3] https://www.wired.com/story/white-house-starlink-wifi/ https://www.wired.com/story/white-house-starlink-wifi/

DominoTree 7mo ago
> This allowed devices to evade monitoring, transmit untracked data outside secure channels, and potentially enable leaks or hacks Pretty sure that was the point
wil421 7mo ago
The intelligence agencies should already have taps into Starlink and should be able see the data. Whether do anything is another story. Or Starlink uses an encryption scheme somewhere in the network only the big boys can break.
- halJordan 7mo ago
  They don't "just have taps" in whatever isp you come across. And they certainly, and i cannot be clear enough on this, they don't just spy on Americans. It's literally the one thing they expressly forbidden from doing
  - Amezarak 7mo ago
    I’m not sure there was ever a time when they didn’t have taps, but this is definitely not true. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_641A https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_641A Even in the days of telegrams, FDR was opening and reading millions of American’s telegrams to use the information therein to target his political enemies. You can’t build centralized systems that enable spying and not expect people to do the “forbidden” thing. We have to build systems that make this impractical.
  - lucketone 7mo ago
    Organised crime is illegal, thus mafia is fixtion.
  - wil421 7mo ago
    I’m sure you thought GSM was secure too. They absolutely have taps, just search for YouTube videos then cross reference the exact places and situations they talk about.
- lII1lIlI11ll 7mo ago
  > The intelligence agencies should already have taps into Starlink and should be able see the data. By "data" you mean seemingly random stream of 0s and 1s of bunch of TLS channels?
ydlr 7mo ago
The films upset over Clinton's personal email address must have had their heads explode over this!

DominoTree 7mo ago

> This allowed devices to evade monitoring, transmit untracked data outside secure channels, and potentially enable leaks or hacks Pretty sure that was the point

wil421 7mo ago

The intelligence agencies should already have taps into Starlink and should be able see the data. Whether do anything is another story. Or Starlink uses an encryption scheme somewhere in the network only the big boys can break.

halJordan 7mo ago
They don't "just have taps" in whatever isp you come across. And they certainly, and i cannot be clear enough on this, they don't just spy on Americans. It's literally the one thing they expressly forbidden from doing
- Amezarak 7mo ago
  I’m not sure there was ever a time when they didn’t have taps, but this is definitely not true. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_641A https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_641A Even in the days of telegrams, FDR was opening and reading millions of American’s telegrams to use the information therein to target his political enemies. You can’t build centralized systems that enable spying and not expect people to do the “forbidden” thing. We have to build systems that make this impractical.
- lucketone 7mo ago
  Organised crime is illegal, thus mafia is fixtion.
- wil421 7mo ago
  I’m sure you thought GSM was secure too. They absolutely have taps, just search for YouTube videos then cross reference the exact places and situations they talk about.
lII1lIlI11ll 7mo ago
> The intelligence agencies should already have taps into Starlink and should be able see the data. By "data" you mean seemingly random stream of 0s and 1s of bunch of TLS channels?

ydlr 7mo ago

The films upset over Clinton's personal email address must have had their heads explode over this!