What Twitter's Worst Hack Means For Its Bottom Line (bloomberg.com) 42
The breach revealed Twitter's engineering prowess and management practices as subpar. Hedge fund Elliott Management can't be happy about its investment. From a report: Even if Twitter's user growth is relatively unaffected, shareholders shouldn't overlook what the latest in a long series of security incidents says about the how the company works and why its stock has been such a disappointment: Twitter's engineering prowess and management practices are simply second-rate. On Wednesday, numerous Twitter accounts from business leaders, celebrities to major companies -- including Elon Musk, Barack Obama, Jeff Bezos and Apple -- were hacked and posted cryptocurrency scam messages, promising to double the amount of any funds sent to a specific Bitcoin address. Twitter later admitted to the unprecedented nature of the breach, saying it believes it fell victim to a "coordinated social engineering attack," where hackers were able to take control of its internal systems. CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted, "Tough day for us at Twitter. We all feel terrible this happened."
Certainly, hedge fund Elliott Management must not be pleased with the turn of events. The activist hedge fund and Twitter stakeholder reached an agreement with the company earlier this year to restructure the company's board, standing down on an initial goal of replacing management including Dorsey. The lackluster security is more ammunition for Twitter's critics who have long questioned the company's efficacy in using its engineering resources. Even as Chinese super-apps such as WeChat have expanded upon core messaging services to build vast consumer internet empires, and Facebook has transformed its platforms into advertising money machines, the basic nature of Twitter's offering hasn't changed much over the past decade. That, even as the company spends an incredible amount in research and development annually -- including nearly $700 million last year alone. Where does all the money go?
Certainly, hedge fund Elliott Management must not be pleased with the turn of events. The activist hedge fund and Twitter stakeholder reached an agreement with the company earlier this year to restructure the company's board, standing down on an initial goal of replacing management including Dorsey. The lackluster security is more ammunition for Twitter's critics who have long questioned the company's efficacy in using its engineering resources. Even as Chinese super-apps such as WeChat have expanded upon core messaging services to build vast consumer internet empires, and Facebook has transformed its platforms into advertising money machines, the basic nature of Twitter's offering hasn't changed much over the past decade. That, even as the company spends an incredible amount in research and development annually -- including nearly $700 million last year alone. Where does all the money go?
Shareholders don't care (Score:3, Interesting)
It's a far-fetched thought that individual (or hedge-fund) investors care so long as the company maintains GROWTH. In this industry it's all about GROWTH and so long as Twitter adds eyeballs, and advertisers add advertisements shareholders are happy.
Users are the ones who care about technical acumen, security, good practices, and protecting privacy. Sadly, users don't have a say in the process, seats on the Board of Directors, or the power of voting with money.
Sorry, Bloomberg, you're still thinking like a New York financial analytics firm. It's the Internet days, baby!
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So why do you say users have no power?
Because they don't use it.
If security affects business, the company will fix it. They see no reason to do anything until then.
Twitter is just a piece of hedge fund portfolios. It can come and go, and only the users will care.
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Considering how big of a fuckup the Equifax hack was (way bigger) and how much it hurt them (not at all)... I don't think anyone's worried.
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That's also true of Twitter.
What is amazing about the credit reporting services though is that a "bank" can make a stupid loan where they failed to properly identify the person receiving the money and somehow it is the real person who is on the hook to prove that he didn't receive this loan.
At minimum the first step in debt collection should be that the creditor is required to prove that the funds were received by the actual person in question.
It means nothing (Score:3)
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Agreed. Most Twitter content is frivolous. If it involved consumer or commercial monetary transactions or safety-related info, it could otherwise kick the company in the gonads. But their GIGO model will live on.
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Nothing wont change because of this.
It's "nothing won't not never change because of this", you ignoramus. Get your grammar proper.
Hacks don't matter (Score:1)
Twitter disappointment is not because of lax security, the world really cares very little about that.
The reason Twitter performance has languished is they never improve the system in ways that would actually make users happier. Like even the simplest ability to correct a tweet shortly after posting.
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Like even the simplest ability to correct a tweet shortly after posting.
Despite the recent negative press covfefe of Twitter, I'm sure they'll be just fine finvovely.
Re: Hacks don't matter (Score:2)
I think most users would like a checkbox to "disable cesspool".
I still don't get why they have any users at all much less the zillions they claim.
Social networking (Score:2)
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They could be AntiFa. Surely follows their tactics more than Fedgov.
Really? Please show where imitating law enforcement to detain people who agree with Antifa is a common tactic.
Also, explain how this fits Antifa better than, say, right wing groups that have been arrested doing it. [twitter.com]
Whereas Law Enforcement detaining people and then releasing them later without charges is an extremely common tactic going back centuries.
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People love twitter because its an echo chamber for their beliefs. If you don't like someone's comments you block them and they disappear. The short zinger replies also attracts people as well. It gives everyone an equal voice and when dealing with the general public you know what that voice will sound like.
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Like even the simplest ability to correct a tweet shortly after posting.
Amend, maybe. Never edit.
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Would you really call this a "hack" when a Twitter administrator gave the scammers the tools to make those user changes?
Who's point of view? (Score:1)
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Why do American news articles always consider things from the point of view of the super-wealthy capitalist class?
Because they're the ones who own the newspapers and TV stations.
And, this is how it always has been. It's not like Hearst was in it for journalistic ideals.
Easy question to answer (Score:2)
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My guess is that if people haven't learned to avoid Twitter by now, they never will. This won't even be a drop in the bucket.
"Where does the money go?" (Score:2)
Do you have any idea how much the bribes required to get their kids into Stanford and Cal Tech have gone up? Ever since the USC people got caught, the other universities have nearly tripled the amount of bribery needed to get in.
Twitter is so dumb (Score:2)
Casual 280 byte messages, no threading, no serious search, no way to have better content or more readability ...
Now get off my lawn, as I settle down to enjoy The Clicking of Cuthbert by P GWodehouse in the format of inky smudges on layers of dried wood pulp.
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also images, unlike
the analytics are actually quite sophisticated
I wouldn't mind if they offered more poll options, though, like rank voting; we might get some real results from that
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Twitter use to be very good. I found out about the Arab Spring 3 days before the mainstream media said a word about anything. Now, especially after they forced the new UI on us, it really is trash. The trends often bear no relationship to what you might think. When they do, it's almost always something that incites passion and leads to nothing but an endless tit-for-tat slugfest of my side vs. your side.
News discovery on Twitter used to be great. I haven't found anything that really replaces it. The o
VIctim of 'Social engineering attack'. (Score:2)
I wish there were ramifications.... (Score:2)
... but there wont be any
Twitter has something called "Liberal Privilege" which absolves them from any criticism or repercussions.
I wish they would go down in flames because they are literally the enemy of free speech.
Another nail..... (Score:2)
......in the coffin of this unholy dumpster fire.
Twitter cannot DIE fast enough to suit me....
If i Remember My Password..... (Score:1)
It was never a Twitter hack .. (Score:1)
Interesting yet typical (Score:2)
We don't know if there was a leak of personal data (Score:1)
"Part-time CEO" (Score:2)
Nothing will change while:
- @jack doesn't even work at Twitter fulltime
- the board is populated by enablers who let him do it
No impact whatsoever (Score:2)
Weak passwords are a cause of data breaches (Score:1)