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The House of Representatives Is Blocking All Apps Using Google's Appspot.com (fastcompany.com)

Posted by msmash on from the block-it-if-you-don't-understand-it dept.

New reader calewithac writes: In an attempt to stop ransomware attacks, the House's security team has banned all apps hosted on appspot.com from being used on its servers. This means that all appspot hosted apps are inaccessible inside Congress. According to Ted Henderson, the founder of the Cloakroom -- an anonymous messaging app for Capitol Hill staffers -- all of his apps are effectively not available to their target audience.

2 of 46 comments (clear)

  1. This sounds weird. by stephanruby · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I would think Cloakroom was the one thing being targeted, because the House or Representatives doesn't want anonymous leaks.

  2. Wrong target, House by Sir+Holo · · Score: 4, Interesting

    How about banning DropBox. The CEO as openly stated they they index every file that crosses their servers.

    Oh, now I see. Republicans won't ban DropBox because Condi Rice is on its Board of Directors.

    My own (huge) institution has banned Dropbox entirely. Instead, a subscription to Box Sync was purchased for everyone. Box Sync encrypts before upload/sync, and then decrypts locally. They literally cannot peer into your files—This is by Design.