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Comment by coldcode | Hacker News Reader

If they followed proper security it would be encrypted. All of our Macs at my employer automatically have it on.

If they followed proper security no individual would have been let out of the Capitol without being detained and searched.

Agree with this... also though capitol police were overwhelmed and 3 % control (ie managed to keep politicians out of harms way excluding covid implications) of the situation.

Yes, after seeing the video today of the shooting, it's clear that the Capitol police were very barely able to keep people safe. But later, when so much backup arrived, it appeared as if many people simply walked away and went home, which is baffling to me.

The video: https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2021/01/08/ash...

Given 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.

Was that actually her computer though?

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.

Not the brightest of bulbs, I bet they closed it to carry it away.

So, I was surprised to hear this, among the people who entered the building was a CEO of a tech company from a town close to me.

There were smart people in that group.

1) Don't assume CEOs are smart.

2) Don't assume tech people are smart.

Logged on, unlocked and unattended? That shouldn’t be allowed to happen.

They quickly evacuated. Presumably they simply forgot to lock it in the confusion.

to be fair, I'm sure the training on insurrection defense for a staffer was lacking since this hasn't happened since the early 1800s.

Well training for much more mundane events should cover it. I wonder if they’re personal laptops otherwise IT security would have an auto lock enabled.

Do we know it was Pelosi's computer and not just a staffer in her office? I also imagine it's a lot harder to walk out of the building with an open laptop in hand than a closed one in a bag.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_boot_attack

Yeah this seems to be exactly what BitLocker was designed for.

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