Letter: How could the stolen laptop flash the VA insignia?

Regarding “Stolen VA laptop caught in safety net”: Having implemented hard-drive encryption about five years ago, I read this article with some interest. One thing that I would be grateful for some clarity on relates to when the laptop PC was discovered during the police raid.

Here is an excerpt from the article: "Austin police recovered the laptop in a raid on a convenience store suspected of involvement in drug activity. Police noticed the [Veterans Affairs Department] insignia flashing on a laptop running in the back of the store."

How did the laptop get to the state that the VA insignia was flashing on it? Shouldn’t the encryption have prevented it from being accessed at all?

It might be that the insignia was part of the initial preboot authentication screen. If this was the case, surely the new “owner” would have wiped the drive to reinstall and not have it in view with the VA insignia flashing.

Anonymous


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