Twitter CISO flies the coop

Troubled social media giant Twitter has lost the services of its chief information security officer to cap off another chaotic week following its acquisition by Elon Musk. Lea Kissner used their former employer’s platform to post: “I've made the hard decision to leave Twitter. I've had the opportunity to work with amazing …

[AnotherName]

Socially distanced

I see in other news that Musk has told staff that WFH is over. At least with half the staff gone the remainers can be in the office and socially distanced.

Me, I'll be staying Social Network distanced thank you very much.

[EVP]

Re: Socially distanced

We’re not much arsed if no one is arsed about what we do or not. By all means, keep using twatter, JS, straps and stuff if you like it. Cheers!

[steviebuk]

Re: Socially distanced

Its a stupid idea. Its not like its a factory. Besides he's trying to save money, surely letting people work from home where you then don't have to keep the office heated or lights on is a way to save fucking money.

[vtcodger]

Re: Socially distanced

"surely letting people work from home where you then don't have to keep the office heated or lights on is a way to save [explitive deleted] money."

Good point. Where is Elon's vaunted vision? Why does Twitter need an office? Probably should have given the staff two weeks to get the hell out and get online, then turned the utilities off.

Oh well ... maybe next week.

[steviebuk]

Re: Socially distanced

I wouldn't say get rid of the office outright. Some people like to be in the office, some don't have the setup required at home, some want to get away from the kids (someone said that at our work) but forcing people back to the office when its clear working from home works is a stupid idea. It a sign of a person who's out of touch. Its easy to say when you can afford to be driven in. But when you're lower down in the chain, have to take public transport or live miles away so have to sit in shitty traffic all morning, it makes more sense working from home.

It's just another notch in his arseholeness. Why people worship at the alter of Musk is anyone's guess.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Socially distanced

It's not a stupid idea if you treat people like Musk is rumoured to do (i.e. not very well). That's much harder if they're not physically there.

In general this seems to confirm that Musk is not exactly a pleasure to work for, which in a knowledge/skills based environment is more likely to yield a brain drain than anything positive.

[GruntyMcPugh]

Re: Socially distanced

Musk hated traffic so much he wanted to dig tunnels. WFH alleviates traffic, so what does Musk do? End WFH.

Hey Elon, you had the solution to traffic all along!

[Strahd Ivarius]

Re: Socially distanced

WFH is a threat for EM's Boring Company, it needs to be stopped, even if doing so Twitter goes thrown under the bus (a bus that couldn't use the tunnel anyhow, only Teslas are allowed in)

[Kevin McMurtrie]

Re: Socially distanced

It's clear that Musk is more interested in being "The Boss." No sane person looking for money would buy a delicate company like Twitter then blow it to pieces.

[Dylan Fahey]

Re: Socially distanced

Did you just provide some logic and and facts on the Interwebz, FOR SHAME, FOR SHAME !

[Snake]

Re: Socially distanced

"New owner Musk announced that he doesn't really want to continue Twitter's existence because he fundamentally doesn't have a clue on how to balance the varied demands of social media, as the CEO of technology-based companies has never shown excellent social skills.

Therefore in firing half the staff, making demands on remaining staff that are both unpopular and essentially unwarranted based on prior performance, and failing to seek the continued participation of skilled current leaders and employees, Musk shows he means what he says."

There, FIFY.

[ElRegioLPL]

Sooner or later the banks could end up calling his loans in if he carries on alienating the staff and user base like this. In reality that's probably the best outcome for them given they can't sell the debt on at the minute.

[Charlie Clark]

I suspect this is why he's considering bankruptcy. Well, the banks will be involved but, à la Manchester United, once the debts have been transferred to Twitter Inc., the debts are no longer his problem and the banks will take the losses as a tax deduction. Capitalism, you've got to love it!

[ElRegioLPL]

This is a very good shout. $1.3b a year interest on a loan for a company that barely makes a profit ... I think amongst those tax deductions will be bank share prices diving & some crazy people getting the sack. Probably get a nice pay off though so not quite the same if you or me lost the company we work for billions!

[breakfast]

Looks like the banks are already trying to get out by offering the debt at 60 cents on the dollar. I'm not sure that's a good sign. This is looking increasingly like it could bankrupt Twitter and maybe, just maybe, Musk. I'd hate to see it go but taking down that absolute bell would be some compensation.

[Fonant]

Mastodon

FWIW I've decided to Join Mastodon. So far, so good.

[Steve Button]

Re: Mastodon

Interesting.

Seems to me you'll be able to say MORE outlandish things on Mastodon, unless the individual fiefdom (server) that you join has strict policies.

It's already a real bloody mess as to who gets to decide what's misinformation, and what's "truth", and having thousands of servers to choose from will only make it harder.

But it's an interesting concept, although a lot more like anarchy which the Blue Tick crew will really hate.

[Lon24]

Re: Mastodon

Some things work when it comes to non-toxic conversation. ATM it isn't working on Twitter and it is working on Mastodon - at least when viewed from two of the major servers where I have my personal and business accounts. Acceptable behaviour is about shared social norms rather than rules. A real fear is that Twittermigration will bring toxicity with it.

Time will tell if that happens and if the federated server concept can channel and isolate it. A more pressing threat is servers being overwhelmed. Many of the majors have suspended new registrations which may make it harder to find a friendly server.

The non-intuitive sign-up process is perhaps helping to stem the exodus until Mastodon is in better shape to cope. It certainly could not cope with the total and sudden collapse of Twitter if it went bust. Some people need to be careful of what they wish for.

[Andy Non]

Re: Mastodon

Thanks, just signed up. :-)

[Anonymous Coward]

And the secret of comedy is...

Surely the cheapest approach would have been to cancel WFH first, and after all the resignations you'd have fewer people left to get rid of via redundancy.

[MiguelC]

Re: And the secret of comedy is...

Who are you, Musk's evil(er) twin?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: And the secret of comedy is...

If Musk travelled to a parallel dimension, his goatee-enhanced counterpart would most likely be the "good" twin.

[Blank Reg]

Re: And the secret of comedy is...

musk isn't smart enough to figure that out.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: And the secret of comedy is...

I fear that his phone is smarter than him...

[Lon24]

Boeing, Boeing ... gone

The departure of the three compliance chiefs means now engineers will have to self-certify their work to the FTC.

Explaining that you are an engineer and not a lawyer/compliance officer so you not sure what the ramifications are of an untested adhoc change to Elon might not be career enhancing. We all remember how self-certification worked under pressured management with the 737 Max. The fact that only egos will be killed if it crashes is of little comfort to those holding the debt.

Elon skating on [very thin] ice is the meme in my head.

[Charlie Clark]

Re: Boeing, Boeing ... gone

But this is the FTC we're talking about: throw it some nice words and it rolls over and wants its belly scratched.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Boeing, Boeing ... gone

Popehat:

"Getting sued by the FTC is no joke. If I ran a company I think I'd rather have it charged criminally; the company would at least get something resembling due process. As I've said in the context of telemarketers, I've never seen federal judges defer to anyone like they defer to the FTC."

[chivo243]

It has sailed!

The Ship of Fools... Jump now, or suffer the weirdest ride imaginable.

[cje]

Re: It has sailed!

Sounds like he's sunk it already!

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/nov/10/exodus-twitter-elon-musk-possible-bankruptcy

[Dan 55]

The sort of thing which makes advertisers here

List of absolutely real genuine accounts tweeting here which won't scare his income source away, not at all.

[Anonymous Coward]

On the plus side..

.. now we know at least what it costs to buy a black hole.

:)

[Coastal cutie]

Why anyone would stay at Twitter knowing how Musk treats people is a mystery to me (see the Elon Musk Show on BBC iPlayer for some examples) - though hopefully two of them are the local BOFH and PFY cooking up a suitably horrible scheme before they too jump ship.

[Spanners]

Blue Tick?

I don't think that what I have heard about the blue tick is promising.

The people who are most likely to pay this are the people that I really do not trust!

$96/year looks to be a really good value for spammers, hackers, confidence tricksters, government-appointed liars (various governments) and other people who need more trust than they deserve!

I never paid much attention to them in the past. Now, I will look on them as a sign of possible dodginess...

[Dylan Fahey]

The morons that drank the Musk Bath Water are up in arms defending der great leader. Now that Trump is almost in Jail, Musk is next. Can't wait. I predict Musk will be bankrupt by the end of 2023.

WatchThunderf00t on youtube for entertaining videos of the bullshit Musk spouts.