Mastodawn

LibTarg’s 5-Alarm Fire 🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨Apr 10

Marcus Hutchins

Just woke up to find out the president has revoked the security clearances of everyone at a cybersecurity company because Chris Krebs went to work there. Krebs was his director for the agency in charge of Cybersecurity & Election Security during his first term and refuted his claim the 2020 election was "stolen".

Revoking the clearance of every employee basically kills the company's ability to do government contracts, which is a major source of revenue for cybersecurity companies. The White House press release also restates the false claim that the 2020 election was "rigged and stolen".

The US is basically a fascist dictatorship at this point. One where the president goes after entire companies because a single person spoke out against his verifiably false claims. You'd have to be completely insane to travel here right now.

Alan Langford 🇨🇦🧤🧊摏 Apr 10

@malwaretech Yeah, with the opinions I've expressed, I'd wind up in el Salvador in no time.

Scotty Trees Apr 10

@alan auto delete toots are a thing some ppl use too, probably just for that very reason. God I hate this timeline we're stuck in right now....

Alan Langford 🇨🇦🧤🧊摏 Apr 10

@scottytrees If that's the reason they have auto-delete, they're screwed. I can assure them that various agencies around the world have archived everything, and that many of these agencies are happy to share that information with each other when asked.

Tor Lillqvist Apr 10

@alan @scottytrees And not only "various agencies". I am sure that if you are even a bit well-known and "annoying", there are lots of alt-right keyboard warriors that take pride in "archiving" everything you publicly publish.

Deleting stuff you wrote from the Internet is just a cosmetic exercise, it is irrelevant from a security POV.

Of course, the same holds for sane/liberal/left-wing keyboard warriors. (No, I don't do it)

Ben Rush Apr 10

@malwaretech If the jackboot fits…

Bernard Sheppard Apr 10

@malwaretech accurate Toot - nitpick comment - noticed an extraneous "basically" that a sub-editor probably inserted.

sammypanda Apr 10

@BernardSheppard @malwaretech

michaelwazowski

@malwaretech so, are you already on your way out?

Jonathan Apr 10

@malwaretech it has been for a few months now

MegatronicThronBanks Apr 10

Yup, you guys are fucked. Sorry.

Joyful Jonny Apr 10

@megatronicthronbanks fuck your sorry. You are delighting in our suffering.

SpaceLifeForm Apr 10

No lies detected.

Simon Zerafa Apr 10

I hope you have an exit plan in place 🫤

Philtran Apr 10

MeaningfulBits.eth Apr 10

@malwaretech he's doing this to prep for a third term. I hope some individual #American has the balls to stop this.

"It was stolen so I get to do this now."

T Jones FilmICE DeportElon Apr 10

@MeaningfulBits @malwaretech

I pray for an old man's death.

Tane Piper ⁂Apr 10

@malwaretech did you see how he boasted about winning the golf tournament.

Yes it's a fascist dictatorship.

iveyline Apr 10

@malwaretech . Definitely a fascist state.

@malwaretech

> Revoking the clearance of every employee basically kills the company's ability to do government contracts, which is a major source of revenue for cybersecurity companies.

To be fair, that sounds like an unsustainable business model to only be able to survive on government contracts

Sensible Crone Apr 10

@feld @malwaretech Also means less cybersecurity for the us, which is what his handler ordered.

@feld @malwaretech Sentinel One doesn't just survive off of gov't contracts -- far from it. That doesn't mean it's good for the business to lose 10% (or even 1%) of their annual recurring revenue.

But, imagine the disruption caused by an agency or Federal contractor having to rip out their XDR solution and replace it, TODAY, because they require support & professional services with a security clearance and S1 employees clearances have been mass-revoked because Chris Krebs is habitually honest.

Elias Mårtenson Apr 10

@malwaretech I do wonder why Defcon still takes place in the us.

@loke I was wondering the same. Well, no defcons for me in a country which is hostile towards females and now apparently also EU citizens.

Androcat Apr 10

@malwaretech And you just know he is soliciting others for "insurance" money.

plasticine_era Apr 10

@malwaretech Putting the bigger problem of "Enemies List" fascism aside ...

Agreed, coming to a US airport and being in the hands of some potential red pilled mini dictator, with a quota to keep and unlimited discretion is too much risk.

Visit with a timeline full of facts instead of "regime acceptable disinformation" and you end up on a concrete floor under 24hr halides and no means of being released. I've trashed all my plans of coming to visit the US.

I hope ppl wise up for the midterms

plasticine_era Apr 12

@malwaretech For the cavalcade of cowards staying silent on Chris Krebs' persecution see other boosts.. but as a follow up to border risks:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/11/australian-with-us-working-visa-detained-insulted-deported?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Jonathan returned from the US to Australia to scatter his sister’s ashes..
..Detained and deported despite holding a valid working visa. He has been living in the US east coast for most of a decade..his American partner, and clients remain.

He alleges border officials called him ‘retarded’ and boasted ‘Trump is back in town’"

Australian with working visa detained and deported on returning to US from sister’s memorial

Man who says he had previously left and re-entered the country multiple times alleges border officials called him ‘retarded’ and boasted ‘Trump is back in town’

The Guardian

mossyrua Apr 10

@malwaretech English radio; America is fascist…

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FVkTjiAXU0E

'Why are we afraid to call Trump a fascist?' | James O’Brien - The Whole Show

YouTube

Magnus Ahltorp Apr 10

@malwaretech There are always many people complaining about the insane election system that elects the US president, but the real problem is that they have too much power. The insane elections wouldn’t be as much of a problem if they had limited power. Sane countries don’t combine prime minister, head of state, commander-in-chief and the personal power to issue executive orders into one person.

Edit with thanks to @Alex_H below: Legislative veto power is also on the list of powers.

🅱🅻🆄🅴🅱️Apr 10

@ahltorp @malwaretech

He can't do these things, he just is and no one's stopping him.

Not too long ago we got rid of a president for bugging a building to influence an election. Now we can't kick out a guy saying he wants a third term.

Linda 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇮🇪🇮🇹Apr 10

@ahltorp @malwaretech most countries don’t.

Marcus Hutchins

@ahltorp the US president has the least power of any world leader I’m aware of. Just the systems put in place to limit his power have just decided to let him do whatever he wants

Alexander Heidebrecht Apr 10

@malwaretech @ahltorp
weeelll... there's what they have on paper, there's "soft power" (i.e. the ability to influence people through speeches etc), and there is coercive power (forcing people to do stuff, independent of written rules)

Trump is a very competent wielder of coercive power. He knows whose arms to twist. The constitution relies on people obeying it. It has no coercive power because it's just an agreement, and Trump doesn't agree.

Yvonne ‘looks undocumented’Apr 10

@Alex_H @malwaretech @ahltorp Well said

Alexander Heidebrecht Apr 10

@malwaretech @ahltorp
2/3
...also: Nope, the US was never not a very good democracy. It is (was?) a presidial republic.

In most European democracies, the head of state has a purely representative role (okus signing laws, wjich gives them an emergency brake role for terrible laws), the prime minister is in charge of the executive (plus initiating laws ...), the parliamentary president of legislation, and the military is run by generals who do what the parliament decides.

Alexander Heidebrecht Apr 10

@malwaretech @ahltorp
3/3
...no perfect separation of power, either, because the prime minister also usually heads the biggest party in parliament, but *way* better than if the president, parliamentary president and prime minister were the same person, who could also order the military about without asking parliament first.

I've often read that the governmental institutions in the US were too strong to overpower but it seems it only takes patience and directed willpower... who'd have thought?

Alexander Heidebrecht Apr 10

@malwaretech @ahltorp

...which is actually a *very* clear example of why all those "checks and balances" in democratic governments are extremely valuable and important. Everyone arguing we don't need them because our government was "good", has not understood why they exist.

PaulDavisTheFirst Apr 11

@Alex_H the constitution is also written with the assumption that the various actors within the government are non-malicious (i.e. they may disagree on policy but are not attempting to fundamentally alter the nature of the government).

That turns out to be a remarkably bad assumption to have made.

Alexander Heidebrecht Apr 12

@PaulDavisTheFirst
Some time ago, I read a book which alao covered Kurt Gödel and the incompleteness theorems, and how he *proved* that no constitution can be watertight, which is a direct corollary of the incompleteness theorems.

...although that is not what Trump and Musk are exploiting. They're just ignoring it. Laws only have sway while someone upholds/enforces them.

Pēteris Krišjānis Apr 10

@malwaretech @ahltorp he has less power, definitely not least. No other president has rights to launch nukes and start trade wars.
Yes, Congress can push back, but formally he has rights to do both.

Magnus Ahltorp Apr 10

@malwaretech How many “world leaders” are you aware of then? I guess no head of state or head of government in the EU counts?

@malwaretech Who's going to protect against the Russian cyberattacks... Oh wait

Noortje Van Leeuwen Apr 10

@malwaretech for people that were all up in arms and shouting "Get over it" they sure cant get over the orangeutang losing 2020

Vincent 🌻🇪🇺Apr 10

@malwaretech Time for a Radio Free America to broadcast INTO the USA

Bill, organizer of stuff Apr 10

@photovince @malwaretech Pretty sure this is @npr 😅

Vincent 🌻🇪🇺Apr 10

@wcbdata @malwaretech @npr Still…

They’d better open a Canadian office though

Bill, organizer of stuff Apr 10

@photovince @malwaretech @npr yeah - good idea

sdem21 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🇨🇾 🇪🇺 🇺🇦Apr 10

@malwaretech Or live there. This is no longer America, sadly.

@malwaretech Hack the planet! Or maybe just the US?

@malwaretech I mean, with that logic we can also claim 2024 elections were stolen.

neodog_flag_disabled

@rejzor

The widely reported coverage of the build up including voter deregistration and disappearing / stuffed ballots, hand picked judges etc - indicate 2024 was stolen.

But of course the victors are suppressing anyone who can prove 2024 as well as disprove 2020.

@malwaretech

zaicurity Apr 10

@malwaretech Crazy stuff. Source if anyone else is looking for it: https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/04/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-addresses-risks-from-chris-krebs-and-government-censorship/

Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Addresses Risks from Chris Krebs and Government Censorship

RESTORING TRUST IN GOVERNMENT: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed a Presidential Memorandum revoking any active security clearance held by Chris

The White House

Tody Motmot Apr 10

Thanks, I missed that story.
For people interested, more details here:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/09/trump-justice-department-critics

Trump orders DoJ to investigate two former officials who defied him

Miles Taylor and Chris Krebs, who served under Trump, targeted as president’s persecution of critics intensifies

The Guardian

Quinn Norton Apr 10

@malwaretech at least you can leave, most people can't.

Undead Zeratul Apr 10

@quinn plus even if we did, then that's less reasonable people here to try and stop this insanity. If we all leave then they're free to do whatever they want without resistance. I don't like it here, I can't leave even if I wanted to, but I also feel our country needs the rest of us to course-correct as best we can right now

Scott Lett Apr 10

@malwaretech American cybersecurity is notably weaker because of Trump's action. Because Trump is untrustworthy, we don't know if weakening America was his purpose or just an acceptable consequence.

@malwaretech I agree completely! Please add content warnings to politics though. Some don't want to see negative news all day:(

Urban Hermit Apr 10

@malwaretech this kind of targeting of specific individuals for retribution, instead of behaviors, is very much a dictator move and has nothing to do with the law and lawfulness.