To start Thursday’s news, let’s talk about the tech impact around what happened at the US Capitol on Wednesday.
Twitter locked President Trump’s twitter account for 12 hours after posting lies about the results of the 2020 presidential election, which was scheduled to release on Thursday. The company cited violations of its policies around disinformation.
Facebook and Instagram also blocked the President, initially for a period of 24 hours and then on Thursday announced it would be indefinite. The company is also reported to have been freezing comments on discussion threads internally from employees around calls to de-platform the President. YouTube also removed videos by the President.
The Washington Post is reporting on the incident from a cybersecurity perspective, showing how the assault breached physical security and compromised the network. A computer was stolen from a Senator’s office, physical access was allowed as physical papers were open and accessed and the speed of the evacuation left computers unlocked.
As another researcher stated “we watched a network breach in real time.”
Let’s start by pouring one out for the poor IT staff at the Capitol who now have an entirely compromised network to handle from physical intrusion. Security starts entirely with physical security, and when that has been compromised, all is lost.
You have a classic case study here for customers, as you can describe a breach in terms that will be incredibly relevant and understandable to anyone. I could dwell on the lessons – set auto lock policies, etc – but remember, all is lost regardless.
Now, onto the platforms. I’ll remind everyone that Facebook, Twitter, YouTube – all private companies. This is not a public square. Additionally, shouting fire to cause a panic is a crime, even in a private space. If you don’t see regulation coming here, you’re not paying attention.