An engineer bought a prison laptop on eBay. Then 1,200 incarcerated students lost their devices. - Open Campus
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Students said they were given little information about when and if the devices would be returned, and many wondered if they’d lose access to the work they saved.

Zhang, an electrical engineer in Boston, decided to post about trying to unlock his Justice Tech Solutions Securebook 5 on the social platform X. The thread went viral — also catching the attention of Washington corrections officials, who have used the device for college programming since 2020.

Of particular concern was an article about Zhang’s thread published on a hacker website that shared the default password for the underlying software that starts the laptop’s operating system, presenting what the Department of Corrections considered a security concern.

The department then announced Thursday, five days after Zhang’s viral post, that it would collect all secure laptops from incarcerated students statewide “to provide an immediate system update.” By Saturday, corrections staff had collected around 1,200 laptops, spokesperson Chris Wright said in an email.

Wright confirmed no one incarcerated in Washington prisons had attempted to unlock their devices but said the decision was “made out of an abundance of caution.” It wasn’t immediately clear whether other states whose corrections departments use Securebook 5 laptops have also pulled the devices.

Archived at https://ghostarchive.org/archive/LS3co

e; updated the title due to popular demand

  • Frisbeedude@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    8·
    9 months ago

    default password

    It’s 2024 and we still have news about these “security problems”?

    That Zhang guy can only hope not to go to jail anytime soon. Every prisoner who knew about that password wants to have “the talk” with him. Snitches get stitches…

    • gAlienLifeform@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      15·
      9 months ago

      Every prisoner who knew about that password

      Meanwhile, back in reality

      Wright confirmed no one incarcerated in Washington prisons had attempted to unlock their devices but said the decision was “made out of an abundance of caution.”

    • KeriKitty (They(/It))@pawb.socialEnglish
      12·
      9 months ago

      an article about Zhang’s thread published on a hacker website that shared the default password

      Maybe jumping directly to the “snitches get stitches” part before bothering to spot an actual snitch is a bad idea? “That Zhang guy” was trying to break the thing open, not tattle on others trying to do it.