Chris Finan

Proud dad and husband. Citizen. Veteran. Privacy & security fan. Lover of outdoor stuff. Believer in & servant to humanity.

[Chris Finan @CTFinan]

The Bomber Mafia lives!

[Chris Finan @CTFinan]

So in hindsight maybe it wasn’t so dumb after all for the Ukrainians to focus so much on Bahkmut… pretty spectacular rope-a-dope

[Chris Finan @CTFinan]

This makes you appreciate the foresight of Sam Nunn and Dick Lugar that much more

[Bill Ackman @BillAckman]

The gov’t has about 48 hours to fix a-soon-to-be-irreversible mistake. By allowing @SVB_Financial to fail without protecting all depositors, the world has woken up to what an uninsured deposit is — an unsecured illiquid claim on a failed bank. Absent @jpmorgan @citi or @BankofAmerica acquiring SVB before the open on Monday, a prospect I believe to be unlikely, or the gov’t guaranteeing all of SVB’s deposits, the giant sucking sound you will hear will be the withdrawal of substantially all uninsured deposits from all but the ‘systemically important banks’ (SIBs). These funds will be transferred to the SIBs, US Treasury (UST) money market funds and short-term UST. There is already pressure to transfer cash to short-term UST and UST money market accounts due to the substantially higher yields available on risk-free UST vs. bank deposits. These withdrawals will drain liquidity from community, regional and other banks and begin the destruction of these important institutions. The increased demand for short-term UST will drive short rates lower complicating the @federalreserve’s efforts to raise rates to slow the economy. Already thousands of the fastest growing, most innovative venture-backed companies in the U.S. will begin to fail to make payroll next week. Had the gov’t stepped in on Friday to guarantee SVB’s deposits (in exchange for penny warrants which would have wiped out the substantial majority of its equity value) this could have been avoided and SVB’s 40-year franchise value could have been preserved and transferred to a new owner in exchange for an equity injection. We would have been open to participating. This approach would have minimized the risk of any gov’t losses, and created the potential for substantial profits from the rescue. Instead, I think it is now unlikely any buyer will emerge to acquire the failed bank. The gov’t’s approach has guaranteed that more risk will be concentrated in the SIBs at the expense of other banks, which itself creates more systemic risk. For those who make the case that depositors be damned as it would create moral hazard to save them, consider the feasibility of a world where each depositor must do their own credit assessment of the bank they choose to bank with. I am a pretty sophisticated financial analyst and I find most banks to be a black box despite the 1,000s of pages of @SECGov filings available on each bank. SVB’s senior management made a basic mistake. They invested short-term deposits in longer-term, fixed-rate assets. Thereafter short-term rates went up and a bank run ensued. Senior management screwed up and they should lose their jobs. The @FDICgov and OCC also screwed up. It is their job to monitor our banking system for risk and SVB should have been high on their watch list with more than $200B of assets and $170B of deposits from business borrowers in effectively the same industry. The FDIC’s and OCC’s failure to do their jobs should not be allowed to cause the destruction of 1,000s of our nation’s highest potential and highest growth businesses (and the resulting losses of 10s of 1,000s of jobs for some of our most talented younger generation) while also permanently impairing our community and regional banks’ access to low-cost deposits. This administration is particularly opposed to concentrations of power. Ironically, its approach to SVB’s failure guarantees duopolistic banking risk concentration in a handful of SIBs. My back-of-the envelope review of SVB’s balance sheet suggests that even in a liquidation, depositors should eventually get back about 98% of their deposits, but eventually is too long when you have payroll to meet next week. So even without assigning any franchise value to SVB, the cost of a gov’t guarantee of SVB deposits would be minimal. On the other hand, the unintended consequences of the gov’t’s failure to guarantee SVB deposits are vast and profound and need to be considered and addressed before Monday. Otherwise, watch out below.

[Chris Finan @CTFinan]

@karaswisher But what’s the strategy exactly, aggressive cuts and some AI magic? There’s no AI content mod solution without a policy team and data labelers working to refine it. Don’t you think Zuck and Sundar have thought about this..? This dude is firing from the hip. No plan.

[Chris Finan @CTFinan]

@BrianLaslie The files are in the computer

[Chris Finan @CTFinan]

When you lack an effective strategy 👇

[Donie O'Sullivan @donie]

Here’s the text of the email Musk sent to Twitter staff overnight.

Those who don’t commit to being “extremely hardcore” by 5pm ET today must leave the company. ‼️

Story: https://t.co/expt0d63dH

[Chris Finan @CTFinan]

We’re in a hybrid war with Russia

[Shannon Vavra @shanvav]

New: A suspected Russian influence campaign of political cartoons is targeting the far-right in the US ahead of the midterm elections—aimed at undermining support for Democrat candidates in Pennsylvania, Georgia, New York, and Ohio, and spreading criticism of Biden, per Graphika

[Chris Finan @CTFinan]

@EliSugarman Two absolutely unrelated questions: Have you tested it for adults and will there be adult beverages?

[Chris Finan @CTFinan]

We should do more to help single parents. Dobbs is going to make this worse

[NBC Bay Area @nbcbayarea]

On average, moms working full-time earn just 74 cents for every dollar paid to a dad in the U.S., the National Women's Law Center reports — and the pay gap is even worse for many moms of color. https://t.co/plIGzsPvU5

[Chris Finan @CTFinan]

@alackerlyons I was thinking Dwight Schrute

[Chris Finan @CTFinan]

Worried about #ransomware but don’t know where to start? Check out the Blueprint.

[ActZero, a WatchGuard Brand @actzero]

Tailored to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with limited #cybersecurity expertise. The Blueprint for Ransomware Defense provides a curated set of 40 achievable safeguards to harden protections against #ransomware. Download the blueprint here: https://t.co/lfmaqqb19l

[Chris Finan @CTFinan]

World-class team with big vision + great backing = strategic impact #RansomwareTaskForce Blueprint

[craig newmark @craignewmark]

(about the blueprint via #RansomwareTaskForce led by @IST_org with @MeganStifel, @philreiner. That's @CISAJen, doing a great job leading @CISAgov)
#CyberCivilDefense

Ransomware attacks are hitting small businesses. These are experts' top defense tips https://t.co/e6RuDOz8AK

[Chris Finan @CTFinan]

Check out our simulation against Quantum ransomware attacks https://t.co/fOyu7N9WAZ #ransomware #infosec #cyberdefense

[ActZero, a WatchGuard Brand @actzero]

This short video simulates how ActZero MDR protects your organization from quantum #malware. To test your current security stack against an attack such as this, learn more about our complimentary #ransomware readiness assessment here: https://t.co/kCf2Lr35HG

[Chris Finan @CTFinan]

Really proud of our team. They worked hard to develop this assessment methodology. It’s a great way to quantify readiness. And free!

[ActZero, a WatchGuard Brand @actzero]

We're happy to announce the launch of our class-leading Ransomware Readiness Assessment, eliminating ransomware protection blindspots for businesses! Check out the official press release here! https://t.co/puzRBiDwcb

#ransomware #malware #cyberattack #cybersecurity #infosec

[Chris Finan @CTFinan]

“Never allow anyone to be humiliated in your presence.” -Elie Wiesel

[Chris Finan @CTFinan]

This sums up why I decided to give up paragliding when I had kids

[Jon Stewart @jonstewart]

A Message to and from Mister Senator Ted Cruz...Attorney at Law
#PassthePactact

[Chris Finan @CTFinan]

@alackerlyons