Hacker News

points by jeremyjh 3 days ago | 0 comments

But how many of them would risk their job by smuggling in a device that violates government policies? Every device in the White House should be accounted for and meeting a number of security criteria. There are really only two or three people there who would know that those rules don't apply to them.

[–] jp_sc 3 days ago

They are not saying that is _on purpose_, in fact they are saying the opposite: a compromised device, could be even an Android phone. It could also be as device planted on purpose, of course.

[–] asdff 3 days ago

Given that, why are there so many loose phones at all? Here is one compromised that we know about, in the biggest target for espionage on planet earth.

[–] tclancy 3 days ago

You’re misreading what this says. It’s someone bringing in a device they managed to get infected.

Oh and also the part where no one has caught this internally which is possibly the bigger takeaway. It’s a zero-trust network made out of incompetence.

[–] esikich 3 days ago

There's nothing in the article that suggests it's not just the guest wifi. Which wouldn't be monitored. Why would you? The whole point is that it's segmented and can't actually interact with anything important.

[–] what 3 days ago

Why are you assuming the person knows and is actively smuggling in the device? And why would you then assume that person is more significant than a shift worker there?

[–] asdff 3 days ago

Probably because hegseth decided to actively use signal to discuss military planning instead of secure channels that don’t invite such screwups like adding random citizens to these discussions.

[–] skipkey 3 days ago

Eh, I would not be surprised if they have a separate wifi that guests can use and you can hook up your private devices to. Basically every large company i have worked for, for the last two decades had that. I suspect deep in the bowels of the White House you don’t get good reception.