WASHINGTON, DC — Twitter misled users and
US regulators about “extreme, egregious” gaps in its online protections, the
platform’s ex-security chief claimed in whistleblower testimony that could
impact the court fight over Elon Musk’s buyout bid.
اضافة اعلان
Peiter Zatko’s complaint, which was published
Tuesday by US media, also accused Twitter of significantly underestimating the
number of fake and spam accounts — a crucial point in Musk’s argument for
trying to cancel his $44 billion deal to own the platform.
Zatko’s filing to authorities including market
watchdog Securities and
Exchange Commission accuses Twitter of “negligence,
willful ignorance, and threats to national security and democracy.”
The ex-worker, who Twitter says was fired for poor
performance, warns of obsolete servers, software vulnerable to computer
attacks, and executives seeking to hide the number of hacking attempts, both
from US authorities and from the company’s board of directors.
The hacker-turned-executive, who goes by the
nickname “Mudge,” also claims that Twitter prioritizes growing its user base
over fighting spam and bots, the filing says.
In particular, Zatko accuses the platform and its
CEO
Parag Agrawal of issuing untrue statements on account numbers because “if
accurate measurements ever became public, it would harm the image and valuation
of the company.”
His filing argues that because Twitter reports a
tally of users based on who can be reached by advertising — not the actual
number of accounts — the true magnitude of spam bots is effectively unknown to
the public.
Twitter fired back at its former worker, saying
Zatko was fired in January for “ineffective leadership and poor performance.”
“What we’ve 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 important context,” the firm said in
a statement.
The “opportunistic timing” of the allegations
appears “designed to capture attention and inflict harm on Twitter, its
customers and its shareholders,” the statement continued.
A redacted version of the filing was dated July 6,
nearly a week before Twitter launched its lawsuit to try to force Musk to close
the buyout deal and which is set for trial in mid-October.
Zatko’s legal team called the characterizations of
his work and departure from Twitter as “false”, noting he was fired after
clashing with the new CEO Agrawal.
‘Dangerous security risks’
The issue of fake accounts
is at the heart of the legal battle between Twitter and Tesla chief Musk.
The billionaire has repeatedly accused the company
of minimizing the number of bot accounts on its platform, and he tweeted
Tuesday “spam prevalence *was* shared with the board, but the board chose (to)
not disclose that to the public...”
Musk is relying on the bot argument to justify
abandoning his buyout deal and avoid paying severance, but Twitter’s lawsuit
has asserted that it’s too late because the parties already have an agreement.
CNN reported that Zatko has not been in contact with
Musk, and that he had begun the whistleblower process before there was any sign
of the billionaire’s involvement in Twitter.
“We have already issued a subpoena for Mr Zatko, and
we found his exit and that of other key employees curious in light of what we
have been finding,” Musk’s lawyer Alex Spiro told AFP.
The markets were not thrilled with Tuesday’s news
and Twitter shares closed down over seven percent for the day.
Zatko was hired in late 2020 by the founder and
former boss of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, after a massive hack that saw the accounts
of major users including Joe Biden, Barack Obama, reality star
Kim Kardashian,
and Musk himself compromised.
Before joining Twitter, Zatko held senior positions
at Google and payments processing firm Stripe as well as DARPA, the
technological research arm of the Pentagon.
US lawmakers immediately raised concerns about the
allegations in Zatko’s filing and have pledged to look into them.
“If these claims are accurate, they may show dangerous data
privacy and security risks for Twitter users around the world,” Senator Dick
Durbin said in a statement.
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