TWITTER has major cybersecurity problems; has lied to authorities about it; and has neither the ability nor the interest to determine the number of fake accounts on the social network, a former company executive said.
Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, Twitter’s head of security, mentioned all this in a report submitted last month to the U.S. Congress and to several federal agencies and its content was disclosed Tuesday by The Washington Post and CNN.
According to these media, the internal information shared by Zatko describes a company with significant management problems, which among other things allows too many of its staff to access the platform’s central controls and most sensitive information without adequate oversight.
In addition, he claims that one or more employees may be working for a foreign intelligence service, alleging that company executives have lied to shareholders and regulators about the social network’s significant security weaknesses.
The complaint refers to atrocious deficiencies, negligence, willful ignorance and threats to national security and democracy, all of which have been detected in the company.
Zatko also notes that Twitter fails to properly delete data from users who cancel their accounts. In some cases, because it has lost the information and has misled regulators in this regard.
His report also points out the issue of the “bots” populating the social network which are at the center of the trial that will confront Twitter and the billionaire Elon Musk, after the latter decided to cancel the purchase of the company, in part because he believes that he was not told the truth about the number of fake accounts.
According to the former executive, Twitter does not have the resources to really know the number of “bots” and its major executives are not interested in getting them either.
Zatko worked at the company between November 2020 and January this year, when he was fired.
In response to questions from CNN about the allegations filed, a Twitter spokesperson noted that Zatko lost his position for ineffective leadership and poor job performance.
The accusations come at a sensitive time for the tech company, which this year accepted Musk’s offer to take over its business for $44 billion and is now fighting for the deal to close on agreed-upon terms.
Twitter sued the entrepreneur after he announced in July his intention to reverse the purchase and the case is scheduled to go on trial in October.
As stated by Whistleblower Aid (an organization that helps those handling internal complaints and which is also supporting Zatko) Twitter’s former head of security has not been in contact with Musk, and his procedure began before it became known that the billionaire was planning to take over the company.
However, according to CNN, Musk’s lawyers have already requested information from Zatko with the objective of being able to use it in the trial.
