Computers & internet

Twitter Whistleblower Alleges Major Issues with Security, Spam Accounts

AUG 23 2022·Updated AUG 24 2022

Story

Image credit: The New York Times

The Facts

Twitter's former head of security, Peiter Zatko, reportedly filed a complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last month, alleging the company failed to protect sensitive user data and lied about security problems.
wsj
Zatko alleges Twitter misled users and investors, acting with "negligence and even complicity" towards hackers as well as efforts by foreign governments to infiltrate the platform. Twitter even allegedly placed Indian government officials on the payroll and gave them access to user data.
PBS NewsHour
The complaint says the violations date back to 2011, when the Federal Trade Commision (FTC) ordered the company to fix security flaws. Zatko alleges they continued into his 2021-2022 tenure at the company - he also accused CEO Parag Agrawal of encouraging him to lie about such issues.
New York Post
Under the terms of the FTC settlement, Twitter was barred from "misleading consumers" about security flaws, leading to the agency and the Justice Dept. fining the company $150M this year for breaching the agreement.
nytimes
As the complaint is directly related to national security - including concerns over funding from Chinese entities - the US Senate Intelligence Committee says it's "in the process of setting up a meeting to discuss the allegations."
PBS NewsHour
Zatko further alleges that the company's executives could be paid bonuses of up to $10M for boosting users' followers, a practice he argues incentivizes ignoring widespread spam accounts. The claim may bolster Elon Musk's position in a legal battle over the purchase of Twitter, as he is currently attempting to back out of a $44B deal to buy the platform, citing issues with the proliferation of bot accounts.
New York Post

Sources Split

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The Spin

Narrative A

Zatko's claims will undoubtedly help Musk's case. He has argued that "Twitter executives don't have the resources to fully understand the true number of bots on the platform", and his claims over security vulnerability may provide Musk with another argument that Twitter has misrepresented itself by violating its 2011 agreement with the DOJ and FTC.

Axios

Narrative B

This will do nothing to hep Musk's case. Downturns that have followed these revelations are an overreaction - even if Zatko demonstrates that spam accounts made up 6% or 9%, rather than 5% of overall accounts, it would not prove Musk was sufficiently misled to enable him to back out of the purchase.

New York Post

Cynical narrative

The timing of this can't help but raise questions. This seems like a classic example of an opportunistic former employee. Zatko was fired from Twitter earlier this year due to poor performance and leadership, so it makes sense that he'd try and tear down the company that released him from his once-prestigious position.