Whistleblower accuses Twitter of lying

Twitter’s former security chief Peter “Mudge” Zatko accused the short message service of covering up negligent security practices. The company also lied about the number of bots on its own platform and deceived federal authorities.

Difficult times are dawning for Twitter. Because the Statements by a whistleblower place a heavy burden on the short message service. Accordingly, the company covered up negligent security practices and deceived federal authorities.

Peter “Mudge” Zatko, Twitter’s former head of security, also accused his former employer of misjudging the number of bots on the platform.

Zatko publishes complaint via Twitter

Former hacker and cybersecurity expert Zatko was fired from Twitter last January. The company wanted to force him to remain silent about the internal security gaps. Because Zatko refused, according to his own statements, lost his job.

He then filed a complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In a 200-page report, he explains how Twitter tried to deceive shareholders and violated an agreement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). CNN and The Washington Post published the complaint in redacted form.

Twitter does not want to close security gaps

According to his own statements, Zatko was personally asked by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey in 2020 to take over the post as head of security. At that time, the company had become the target of a massive hacker attack. Among other things, the accounts of Barack Obama, Bill Gates and Kanye West were affected.

Zatko, in turn, considers the platform a “critical resource” for the world, he explains in an interview with CNN. That’s why he made it his mission to address the security deficiencies. However, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal refused to support Zatko.

The fact that the current CEO of Twitter has even suggested that Twitter allies itself with the Putin regime raises concerns about the impact of Twitter on US national security.

As a measure against this behavior, Zatko therefore decided to go public with his knowledge.

Zatko accuses Twitter of this

Complete source code on thousands of laptops

Zatko cites the fact that too many employees have access to critical systems of the platform as a major weakness. About half of the approximately 7,000 full-time employees would be able to access sensitive personal user data.

In addition, full copies of Twitter’s source code reside on thousands of laptops, according to Zatko.

Twitter lies to the FTC

Furthermore, the short message service would not adequately protect the personal data of its users and would also have made false and misleading statements to the FTC in relation to consumer protection. The platform violated an agreement with the authority.

Twitter cover up the bot count

According to Zatko, the micro-blogging platform ignores the actual bot situation. The company has repeatedly emphasized that less than five percent of monthly active users are bots, fake accounts or spam.

However, according to Zatko, the measurements are not meaningful because the methods are misleading. Managers would also have received bonuses in the millions to increase the number of users. However, the spam bots remained unprocessed.

Government mole from India

In his complaint, Zatko also accused Twitter of hiring an Indian government agent. He then received access to privileged user data. A serious allegation in terms of Twitter’s influence on global politics.

User data will not be deleted

The former head of security also accuses the microblogging service of not properly deleting user records in the past. The reason given by the platform was that the data was too widely distributed across the internal systems to track it.

Twitter: Just Anger About Termination?

Now the question remains: What is the truth behind the allegations made by the former security chief? A Twitter spokesman told CNN that security and privacy are top priorities for the company. Cyber ​​expert Zatko was fired for poor performance and ineffective leadership.

According to the spokesman, Zatko wanted to harm the company and its customers. However, the accusations are riddled with inaccuracies and inconsistencies. With regard to the takeover deal by Elon Musk, Zatko also chose an opportunistic point in time for his complaint.

Zatko’s attorney and founder of whistleblower aid, John Tye, in turn, told CNN that Zatko had no contact with Musk. He also initiated the whistleblower process before there was any indication of Musk’s intentions to buy Twitter.

Elon Musk is already in contact with Zatko

Zatko’s allegations against Twitter can have serious consequences. In addition to high federal fines, the social media platform is also threatened with the failure of the takeover deal with Elon Musk.

According to his lawyers, Musk has already issued a subpoena for Zatko. His departure is strange in view of the new findings.

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