Since these are apparently being done while people are out of their rooms, according to the article, what do they expect to find? Surely everyone planning on doing something malicious would leave their tools behind...
Also why aren't they targeting laptops? That's probably the #1 "hacking tool" in anyone's arsenal.
But, hey, I bet this looks great on a Powerpoint presentation to the board of directors.
But there was a 2017 mass shooting so they're looking out for travellers carrying fourteen AR-15 rifles, 1600 rounds of ammunition and 50 pounds of explosives.
IDK what the mentions of "hacking tools" are. But if I was running a hotel and I was hosting defcon, I'd give all staff refresher training on "don't plug in that USB stick you found dropped in the parking lot" and suchlike.
Wikipedia tells me "with help from hotel bellmen, he brought five suitcases to his room on September 25, seven on the 26th, two on the 28th, six on the 30th, and two on October 1."
I'm sure someone could perform a mass shooting without twenty suitcases.
But I can see how it would be embarrassing, from the hotel's point of view, that this guy set up the attack right under the noses of security, with bellhops taking twenty suitcases of guns and ammo up to his hotel room.
Sure, but the point is that now that a potential shooter knows that these daily inspections happen, they're not going to bring twenty suitcases full of guns and ammo. They're going to bring two or three suitcases full of guns and ammo, and still have enough firepower to do the same amount of damage the guy in 2017 did.
This is all just security theater. And like most security theater, it infringes on what should be legally-mandated privacy rights. But of course we don't have those here in the US.
The cargo culting demonization of arbitrary components, devices, and supplies by people who believe hacking is unlimitedly-powerful magic is laughable.
Also why aren't they targeting laptops? That's probably the #1 "hacking tool" in anyone's arsenal.
But, hey, I bet this looks great on a Powerpoint presentation to the board of directors.