Disney kicks Slack to the curb, looks to Microsoft Teams for a happily ever after
- Reference: 1726830913
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/09/20/disney_slack_microsoft_teams/
- Source link:
A 1.1 TB file, allegedly collated from Disney's internal Slack archive, was published by a group calling itself "Nullbulge" in July, apparently in protest over artist rights. [1]According to Wired , the group had insider access and exposed data including messages, information about internal projects, and employees' personal details.
Regardless of the veracity of the group's claims, it appears that Disney's employees are to receive the worst punishment possible – a migration to Microsoft Teams.
[2]
According to [3]Business Insider , a leaked internal memo confirmed the decision. By the end of Q1 FY25, most staff will be moved onto Microsoft's messaging platform. Everyone should be there by the end of Q2.
[4]
[5]
Many Disney employees are unhappy about the switch, with some worrying it was more about saving costs than anything else, or that the transition would break longstanding integrations. One wrote: "Teams is horrible."
Shifting to Teams will undoubtedly be a wrench for those accustomed to a particular way of working.
[6]Devs at Asia's top messaging app drowned in Slack, tamed it with ChatGPT
[7]Slack AI can be tricked into leaking data from private channels via prompt injection
[8]Slack tweaks its principles in response to user outrage at AI slurping
[9]Shouldn't Teams, Zoom, Slack all interoperate securely for the Feds? Wyden is asking
At the time of the alleged leak, Element CEO Matthew Hodgson went into sale pitch mode, saying: "Disney's reported Slack breach tells the story of what happens when organisations prioritize popular but intrinsically insecure platforms over genuine security and data sovereignty.
"It's jaw-dropping that organizations continue to use outdated centralized communications platforms that don't provide end-to-end encryption. It's the same with email; if an attacker gets inside they have access to everything.
[10]
"Disney needs to invest in decentralized, end-to-end encrypted communications to ensure there's no sequel."
Of this latest development, Hodgson told The Register : "It appears the breach wasn't enough for Disney to prioritize secure communications. It's moved from one insecure platform to another – Microsoft Teams."
We asked Microsoft, Slack, and Disney to comment and will update with any responses. In the meantime, the warning has to be: Don't mess with the House of Mouse. ®
Get our [11]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.wired.com/story/disney-slack-leak-nullbulge/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Zu2cJWw1q7ksbMC_IZ9WnwAAAcQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://www.businessinsider.com/disney-stop-using-slack-hack-memo-2024-9
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Zu2cJWw1q7ksbMC_IZ9WnwAAAcQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Zu2cJWw1q7ksbMC_IZ9WnwAAAcQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/23/ly_corp_chatgpt_genai_usage/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/21/slack_ai_prompt_injection/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/20/slack_ts_and_cs_update/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/24/wyden_government_interoperability/
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Zu2cJWw1q7ksbMC_IZ9WnwAAAcQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: "Teams is horrible."
Slack is even worse.
Re: "Teams is horrible."
Yes. Slack had the habit of completely freezing your machine when sharing your screen. At least Teams does not do that.
Teams is fine
"It can't do that" is a quick, easy way to shut down many requests, and save yourself a load of hassle.
Re: Teams is fine
"Tha's all I got for ye. Go away now."
Element isn't going to attract many customers
if their CEO insists on branding potential customers as idiots....
I work in Slack but my customers tend to use Teams so I have that too. Both platforms have their pros and cons for Joe User - not sure either is particularly 'better'
Re: Element isn't going to attract many customers
They did recently totally rearchitect the Teams client so it used a bunch more memory and took away some of the features people were using, so there's that.
Re: Element isn't going to attract many customers
Element is also somehow worse than Teams, so there’s also that issue
"Shifting to Teams"
Seems like that is the start of a mountain of problems . . .
Re: "Shifting to Teams"
My kid started a new school this year, crappy notebook(12" maybe?) running win11 and running hot and it's Teams to the rescue? Not really, it's been a horrible experience. Some instructors have no clue how to use it, but continue to shovel shit down the tubes anyway. It will be a fun year ;-{
Beware of their APIs
[1]Microsoft has a habit of retiring APIs without sufficient transition notice. That by itself is reason enough to think twice about using Teams.
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/09/users_rage_as_microsoft_announces
I much prefer slack as channels and DMs are unified in one place and you can easily organise chats and groups. Teams UI is pants and insists on splitting them into tabs, plus you can’t organise chats in any way other than pinning up to 15.
Having worked for dozens of companies consulting over the years, I can say from experience orgs with Teams, it's always an unhappy place that people only use when necessary, and act like big brother is always watching. Slack orgs actually like to communicate and do so freely, spawning non-work interest chat for mutual hobbies, and in general is a much friendlier experience.
Not to mention if you use Teams on anything NOT windows, the experience is downright miserable as anything Microsoft on non-Microsoft devices.
I actually quit a job once because they moved to Teams, or at the time OCS, as it simply didn't work with Linux which I use, so it hobbled my ability to work effectively there.
"Teams is horrible."
Seconded.