The security flaws in Twitter that a former head of the social network denounced (and how it can influence the battle with Elon Musk) – BBC News World

Zatko accused Twitter of failing to maintain strict security practices and “lying about bots to Elon Musk” in the complaint he also brought to the Securities and Exchange Commission last July. The BBC has seen a copy of the document, which was shared by the US news network CBS News.

In the text, the informer criticizes the way in which Twitter has been handling sensitive information and, above all, how it has faced the attacks on its platform.

Twitter has faced a series of high-profile hacks. Former president Barack Obama and the current president, Joe Biden, as well as the singer Kanye West have been some of the targets of these attacks.

The confidant maintains that the social network has suffered a high rate of security incidents. “About one every week serious enough that Twitter had to inform regulators,” he said.

He also denounced the company’s failure to take steps to deal with so-called insider threats – security risks posed by people with malicious intent from within the company. These asserted that there were “virtually unattended”.

The former head of security, in his complaint, describes Twitter as a chaotic company where many employees have access to sensitive systems that contain users’ personal data.

Zakto said it warned that the company lacked a viable disaster recovery plan and that, in the past, it did not properly delete the data of people who canceled their accounts.

As for fake and spam accounts, he said “deliberate ignorance was the norm,” and accused management of showing little interest in precisely identifying how many there really are on its platform.

In the opinion of the newspaper “The Washington Post”, the confidant “provided little solid evidence” to support these claims.

Elon Musk’s lawyers have been quick to react to Zatko’s revelations. The Tesla founder is in the middle of a legal battle with Twitter, after he announced his intention to break the billionaire deal to acquire the social network, arguing that the company has no way of verifying how many of its 229 million active users newspapers are really people.

Following the release of the whistleblower’s remarks, Musk tweeted screenshots of the story published by the US newspaper.

Zatko’s lawyer told CNN that his client filed his complaint before the businessman did public its offer for acquiredlaugh to the technology firm, and that he had not contacted him.

However, one of Musk’s lawyers, Alex Spiro, told the same network that Zatko had been called as a possible witness in the process that Twitter initiated against his client.

The informer is a former hacker and a well-known figure in computer security circles.

Nicknamed “Mudge,” he was a member of the computer security think tank L0pht (pronounced “loft”), and participated in the Congressional hearings on cybersecurity in 1998.

He has also held senior positions in Google and in the research and development agency of the US government, DARPA.

“What we have seen so far is a false narrative about Twitter and our privacy and data security practices that is riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies and lacks significant context,” a Twitter spokesperson said.

“Zatko’s accusations and timing seem designed to grab attention and inflict harm on Twitter, its customers and its shareholders. Security and privacy have long been Twitter priorities and will continue to be,” it added.

For his part, John Tye of the organization Whistleblower Aid, which is advising Zatko, described him as a “hero” and called on authorities to investigate his allegations.

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