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A laptop belonging to Nancy Pelosi's aide was stolen during the Capitol siege, a potential cybersecurity risk

Brittany Chang   

A laptop belonging to Nancy Pelosi's aide was stolen during the Capitol siege, a potential cybersecurity risk
  • A laptop belonging to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's congressional aide was stolen during the US Capitol siege on Wednesday, Reuters' Raphael Satter reported.
  • The aide's laptop — which was used for presentations — was taken from a conference room, according to a tweet from Drew Hammill, Pelosi's deputy chief of staff.
  • Democratic House Rep. Jim Clyburn's iPad and Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley's laptop was also stolen during the riots.
  • The stolen hardware now poses as a major cybersecurity threat.

A laptop belonging to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's congressional aide was stolen during the US Capitol siege on Wednesday, Reuters' Raphael Satter reported.

According to tweet from Drew Hammill, Pelosi's deputy chief of staff, the aide's laptop - which was "only used for presentations" - was taken from a conference room.

However, the laptop wasn't the only piece of hardware stolen during the historic riots. Following the siege, Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon said in a tweeted video that a laptop he had sitting in his office was stolen by rioters. And on Friday, Democratic House Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina also reported a stolen iPad, according to a report by CNN.

Read more: The siege of the US Capitol was a disaster for congressional cybersecurity - and experts say Congress will likely have to wipe all its computers and rebuild from scratch

The access rioters had to unlocked computers and the stolen hardware following the Capitol siege now poses as a cybersecurity disaster, experts told Insider on Thursday.

"Once intruders have physical access to a system, the game is over," Jackie Singh, a security researcher who was a cybersecurity expert for president-elect Joe Biden's 2020 campaign, told Insider's Aaron Holmes. "The safest thing to do once it's been out of physical custody is to wipe it."

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