I've noticed something that I think is worth pointing out: pretty much ALL of the pushback I have gotten on LinkedIn over the past few months over stories critical of this administration has come from men in IT. Many of whom no doubt idolize Musk, who in their minds can walk on water.

Conversely, the response almost universally I've seen from female non/male people in IT and security professionals on LinkedIn has been a great deal more appropriate, i.e. horror, disgust and revulsion for the way this administration is treating federal employees, veterans, the courts, judges, lawyers, journalists, and important, long-standing U.S. policy interests.

I guess what I'm saying is nobody should expect the men in IT to lead the resistance. So many of them are like this guy: angry, aggressive, and really excited about the good old US of A going back to the 80s. Like the 1880s.

@briankrebs 1984

@briankrebs If it makes you feel any better, it seems like Hacker News has completely turned on these fucks. When they do allow a post through, it's just pure hate on the admin with one or two guys who get shit on.

@apodoxus What do you mean? Hacker News seems to bin most stories that even come close to "political" lately.

@briankrebs CISSP and CEH say it all.

@briankrebs I've found that anyone idolizing, or even just liking, Elon is a person I'm better off not having in my life, as far as "unavoidable" professional interactions allow.

@briankrebs Don't Drink and TEXT US 🇺🇸 WAR 🚀 Plans. #trump see txt Vance and Hegseth

@briankrebs

I always ask myself if this is a real account vor a russian propaganda bot :/

@briankrebs This is a pretty common feature of whoever the current political structure serves best. If "politics as usual" does't interfere directly with your life, you can assume that life isn't political. However, the moment the political system does interfere with your life, meaningfully, you realize that all of life is politics. It's tragic people don't often see that and I'm grateful for people like you who can at least communicate that at a MINIMUM cybersecurity is very much a political domain.

@briankrebs Ah, the illusion of ”apoliticality”. A favourite of privileged cucks.

The same fallacy is regularly applied by alt-right trolls taking over web communities.

They create the insider-outsider divide by attacking wildly anyone who brings up the wrong topics, claiming them to be ”bringing politics into our great community”

And these insecure men buy that argument every time. They are conned easily into loyalty signalling for the group, that nazis now lead.

@briankrebs "Hope this helps, Stuart" lol

@brink @briankrebs I'm sorry, but every time, without fail.

@briankrebs Hoooboy. I could say a lot about this but these are the same exact dudes who are absolutely nowhere to be seen for their non-white, non-male, veteran, or queer family and friends right now. And it’s always name-CISSP/CEH, yes.

@briankrebs really not surprised that's someone from Itron--and going to guess Spokane. Good thing they arent electric OT; reading your meters and monitoring transformers.

@briankrebs Hey Brian. Just wanted to let you know that I am a cis white man in IT, and I feel horror, disgust and revulsion as described above despite all that. Then again, I am not a US resident, that might be the key difference.

@hacks4pancakes @briankrebs

@briankrebs

That CISSP/CEH d-bag is from Liberty Lake, WA; which is out between Spokane, WA and Coeur d'Alene, ID.

It's heavy duty RWNJ territory out there. There are heavily armed religious "christians" want to make that area the "American Redoubt"

@ducksauz @briankrebs all his comments are like “DEI!”

@briankrebs His company is doing waste management…

@briankrebs It is the TechnoBro culture that has permeated the industry that has created the lack of intelligent, reasoned thought by many 35-50 yo men in this industry. All think they are experts outside anything they actually control, and lack the empathy to deal with normal people.

@briankrebs well done Brain!

You have a lot more patience then I have these days really trying

@briankrebs

Maybe Stuart has never heard of Upton Sinclair.

@briankrebs

"Dear Brian" professional, feeling good about this... I wish there was a comma there, but ok...

"You suck." oh wow, that esculated quickly.

@briankrebs this CISSP person is probably in breach of their code of conduct and, if so, should be sanctioned by ISC².

@briankrebs Most of the idiots I've seen jumping in on LinkedIn to defend terrible actions have "Finance" somewhere in their title.

@briankrebs Many men in IT in general or many men in IT on LinkedIn? A BIG chunk of my LinkedIn "recommended" timeline is full of MAGA fans. Many non-IT men too. Maybe LinkedIn is just awful.

@briankrebs I don’t understand the do-no-wrong Elon Musk love from anyone. It’s like watching Kanye West fall apart but Musk has the keys to our leadership and Kanye takes his meds occasionally. Musk is like Howard Hughes. His brain doesn’t look at the whole picture. Will Musk end up mad?

@briankrebs Never a fan of this type of rhetoric. *Of course* the dipshits perpetrating fascism are part of the advantaged class. That's a given. This is no grounds to draw a conclusion about everyone who happens to also be in that group.

I'm a straight white IT guy. I've also been completely upfront about trump being a fascist fuck at work, to colleagues, to bosses and to clients.

@renardboy The difference is the non-men are the ones speaking out. Even if they are not attacking people for having a different view, they're more likely to remain silent.

@briankrebs male but not white. But I still do see many men from my ethnicity still supporting Trump. Not sure why they don’t think we won’t be targeted down the line.

@briankrebs it is really amazing to me that so many people look at the news and say “the problem is the messenger” and not “how the fuck can the story subjects be doing this.” It’s almost as if there is a proverb about messengers and them not being the issue!

@briankrebs Funny how Stuart thinks he is in charge, or something. He should run for HOA board.

Karl is really mad, too. Although, I think maybe that anger is misdirected. Karl's response is typical LinkedIn Reply Guy whataboutism stuff ("where were you when Hunter Biden's laptop..")

Karl's profile says he is a f/t cybersecurity program architect for Microsoft's Asia/Pacific region. I feel safer already.

@briankrebs Why do you even waste time on LinkedIn? It is only useful for you to be found by headhunters.

@briankrebs This guy is a classic example of some self-centered boob who will suddenly care when his parents or grandparents or disabled cousin suffer because Social Security was randomly stolen by DOGE and they end up homeless and starving. He'll care when his elders have to move in with him to survive and he has to pay for their healthcare or daycare for grandpa with Alzheimer's. Talk about tunnel vision! He never had to think about them before because the government worked! I too yearn for the days when I could just talk about science and military stuff all day and not care about politics. That ain't today!

@Nonya_Bidniss Karl appears to be in Australia, so perhaps he really doesn't care what is going on in the country where his employer is based.

@briankrebs Ah. Well then. By all means, Americans get fucked so he can go back to his tunnel vision.

@afx I'm just there to spike the punch.

@briankrebs Sounds like a devious mind ,-)

@briankrebs Oh no doubt he’s going to get a surprise calendar addition soon with two other people on the call.

@briankrebs Dudebro ignores DOGE, referring to "nitpicking", while they disassemble our national security, all while they work infosec at an Enterprise who is currently operating under assumed breach by Russia. Bold career move.

@briankrebs Your follower count is down by one deluded clown. Can you take it?

@hllizi Auf wiedersehen, I say! The funny thing is my follower count there has gone way up since the inauguration.

@hllizi no, he deleted his comment.

@briankrebs @hllizi I didn't know there WERE followers! I didn't know that functionality existed until someone connected with me and LinkedIn said "So and So follows you and wants to connect."

I thought "How the hell does LinkedIn know if she follows me?" Then I learned she followed me on LINKEDIN!

I should pay more attention to my tools.

@briankrebs I think these kinds of tech guys are experiencing a kind of cognitive dissonance. They're emotionally invested in their work lives, still living the “saving the world" dream, and their perceptions haven't kept pace with the realities of the day. It's really sad, because they probably started out with good intentions.

@briankrebs I don't understand this response, why Karl would even spend time typing it. I've unsubscribed from valuable feeds because they posted too many dog pictures - if someone's posting a ton of security content, but I disagree with the politics they're tying it to, I'm just going to unsubscribe. There's plenty of other people channeling the same information, but with a different angle / commentary. It's the commentary that's part of what I'm following, not just the tech. Karl can get a technically-pure feed by just asking Copilot his questions. I mean, obviously he can't, but he can at least get Copilot to share his political beliefs while it's feeding him tosh.

@briankrebs @hllizi Coward