The breach of the U.S. Capitol building on January 6th, 2021

The breach of the U.S. Capitol building on January 6th, 2021 was a terrible physical security event for cybersecurity IT professionals. Staff were forced to leave systems unlocked, and systems could have been destroyed, taken, or compromised. Without getting into the politics of the situation: • Describe the physical security breach, focusing primarily on IT systems, including what might have happened and the scope of what could have been breached. • Explain what actions could have been taken immediately to minimize or mitigate the effects of this breach. • Discuss long-term best practices that should be put in place to mitigate this type of event in the future.