Twitter Accused of "Egregious Deficiencies" By Its Former Security Chief

After reports that Elon Musk has subpoenaed Jack Dorsey ahead of a forthcoming legal battle over Musk’s potential purchase of Twitter, the company is back in the headlines once again as its former security chief has accused it of “egregious [security] deficiencies.” Peiter Zatko, a former executive at Twitter — and a onetime hacker who’s known as “Mudge” in the security community — sent whistle-blower complaints to the US government’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on July 6, accusing the company of “extreme, egregious deficiencies” in its anti-spam and hacker processes. Zatko’s complaint, which was recently [gallery columns="3"]obtained by the New York Times, also accuses Twitter’s CEO Parag Agrawal and other executives of several violations, ranging from making misleading statements to users to acting with “negligence and even complicity” towards efforts by global governments to infiltrate the platform.

A Twitter spokeswoman told the Times that Zatko was fired for substandard job performance, and refuted his complaints as lacking context and being inaccurate. “Mr. Zatko’s allegations and opportunistic timing appear designed to capture attention and inflict harm on Twitter, its customers and its shareholders,” the spokeswoman said. “Security and privacy have long been companywide priorities at Twitter and will continue to be.”

Zatko’s complaints are similar to the concerns raised by Musk in that they raise alarm about the number of fake users on the platform. Musk, of course, is set to battle Twitter in court over his efforts to walk away from a $44 billion USD bid to buy the company. Musk and Twitter will go to trial in October, and Zatko’s complaints may raise the stakes of the trial even higher.

Elsewhere in the world of tech, Mark Zuckerberg has updated his metaverse avatar after receiving criticism for the poor quality of its graphics.