r/CapitolConsequences ironically unironic Jul 22 '22

Secret Service identified potential missing text messages on phones of 10 individuals Investigation

https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/22/politics/secret-service-investigators-text-messages/index.html
1.2k Upvotes

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333

u/windigo3 Jul 23 '22

For those of you who haven’t read the article, this is just the metadata not the texts that have been recovered. All we know is 10 more SS dudes texted people on that day but we don’t know what and nobody knows if that can be recovered.

55

u/prudence2001 Jul 23 '22

This comment should be higher up and upvoted a bunch.

106

u/ManOfLaBook Jul 23 '22

. All we know is 10 more SS dudes texted people on that day but we don’t know what and nobody knows if that can be recovered.

Every person who passed IT 101 will tell you they can be recovered. If it can't that's one hell of a cover up and a serious federal crime. Also, if they got the meta data they can subpoena the other person's phone.

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u/windigo3 Jul 23 '22

Shame we can’t see this. It would have been fascinating to read a tip off from a Trump SS agent to a pence SS agent that their lives were in danger

14

u/windigo3 Jul 23 '22

Problem if two corrupt ss officers were texting each other. Their phones were wiped and the ss used the honour system for them to manually save any important texts. Ita possible NSA has this info but it doesn’t seem the federal govt has an ongoing criminal investigation that might leverage that

17

u/ManOfLaBook Jul 23 '22

The two agents texted to a server, that forwarded the texts to their phones. So the texts exist on the server.

1

u/Formergr Jul 23 '22

Do we know for sure though if these were SMS? If it was WhatsApp, for example, that’s not the case then I don’t think.

1

u/ManOfLaBook Jul 23 '22

That's a good question, but my understanding is that they used government phones.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 23 '22

what carrier do they use? just dawned on me- it’s not like they use t-mobile or some shit, right?

1

u/ManOfLaBook Jul 23 '22

Sure they do, it's a government contract with one of the carriers.

0

u/[deleted] Jul 25 '22

Why don't we even know which carrier? extremely basic information withheld there.

1

u/Hvarfa-Bragi Jul 26 '22

You don't need to know that.

0

u/PDX_AplineClimber Jul 23 '22

They cannot and will not be recovered. This is because a factory reset also overwrites the encryption keys with new ones. So even though the metadata is still there and the messages are still there, there is no way to decrypt the messages. The carrier would also have the messages but these are typically only stored on their server for up to a year.

5

u/ManOfLaBook Jul 24 '22

They cannot and will not be recovered. This is because a factory reset also overwrites the encryption keys with new ones.

Most state intelligence agencies will disagree

1

u/Helenium_autumnale Jul 23 '22

Doesn't it depend if the data was deleted (recoverable) or wiped (probably not recoverable)? I'm not an expert so I'm not sure .

6

u/ManOfLaBook Jul 23 '22

Wiped from the carrier?

That takes some serious doing.

4

u/nobodyspersonalchef Jul 23 '22

That's why they referenced IT 101. Basics tell ya that unless the 1s and 0s had other data written over them, repeatedly and intentionally, by a credentialed and explicitly authorized user, then the texts are all still there.

If they were written over repeatedly, which requires specific software meant to write random 1s and 0s intended to destroy data, then someone had to click "ok" when prompted, and that is logged and obviously traceable. Along with the purchase and installation of said software.

1

u/Hvarfa-Bragi Jul 26 '22

It doesn't require special hardware or software to overwrite the data.

You can use special hardware or software to ensure it happens, but it doesn't have to be intentionally erased.

It also wouldn't be logged in any way if someone did use hardware.

1

u/monotakes2 Jul 23 '22

Wiped? Like with a cloth?

6

u/friendofelephants Jul 23 '22

This is so frustrating.

13

u/kgleas01 Jul 23 '22

This is so criminal

9

u/Begeezer Jul 23 '22

Doesn’t the NSA have it? Don’t they have everything? Or has that ship sailed 😆

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u/NeighborhoodVeteran Jul 23 '22

Probably. Could be that they're giving the idiots one last chance to come clean.

2

u/bendefinitely Jul 23 '22

I doubt the NSA would have it but I could be wrong. You'd think the handful of people who's job is to keep the most powerful man on the planet alive would have some very secure encrypted system

0

u/Sekh765 Jul 23 '22

Every one of these threads keeps asking if the NSA somehow has these things. The NSA got their fucking nose smacked with a newspaper back in 08. There's no fucking way they still engage in illegal domestic surveillance, and even if they did they wouldn't be cracking encrypted USSS phones. This is a pipedream.

2

u/[deleted] Jul 23 '22

There's no way they still engage in illegal domestic surveillance

Oh, my sweet summer child.

0

u/Sekh765 Jul 24 '22

Live in ignorance man.

1

u/Begeezer Jul 23 '22

Well goodness my apologies. You certainly put me in my place.

1

u/Hvarfa-Bragi Jul 26 '22

They do, they'll just never admit it via parallel construction.

5

u/party_benson Jul 23 '22

10 people are getting seriously fucked for violating the records retention laws. My boss told me to does not grant you immunity.