Secret services that don’t place anyone on Twitter aren’t working properly, says the ex-security chief. The company is a threat to national security.
The security flaws at Twitter are so serious that they pose a threat to the national security of the United States and presumably other countries as well. The former security chief of the US group claimed this at a hearing before the US Senate Judiciary Committee. During his time on Twitter, the US federal police informed the company that at least one employee of the Chinese Ministry of State Security was employed there. In a conversation about such a possible agent, he heard from a Twitter executive that “if we already have one, what does it matter if there are more,” he was quoted as saying by the New York Times.
10 years behind in IT security
Peiter Zatko left Twitter earlier this year and filed a whistleblower complaint against his former employer with various US institutions in the summer. Before the US lawmakers, he said that when he joined the company, he found that the company had accumulated 10 years of overdue critical vulnerabilities. No significant progress was made in processing them: “It was a ticking time bomb.” He repeatedly reported this to the company’s management and only after his warnings went unheeded did he contact the authorities.
Because engineers at Twitter do not work in test environments, but on Twitter itself, foreign intelligence officers have access to all data, Zatko claimed. In view of this and the conditions at the company as a whole, a secret service that does not take advantage of this and does not place anyone there is “most likely not doing its job properly”. Before claiming that Twitter knew about a Chinese agent, Zatko had already claimed that India had compelled the company to hire an agent. Spies from Saudi Arabia have also been spotted on Twitter.
Even before the hearing, the two chairmen of the Judiciary Committee had written to Twitter boss Parag Agrawal and spoke of “serious concerns” that the allegations would trigger. Twitter plays a significant role in communications in the United States and is important around the world. In view of the latest revelations, they want to know from Agrawal what his company is doing to protect data from secret services that have infiltrated Twitter. He should also explain how user data would be protected from unauthorized access overall. It is not yet clear whether MPs intend to include Agrawal in their committee. Charles Grassley, the leading Republican on the panel, said he couldn’t imagine Agrawal being able to keep his post in the face of the allegations, writes the New York Times.
Additional explosiveness in view of the takeover dispute
Zatko – aka “Mudge” – said that Twitter had also misled the board of directors and investors. The lax handling of user data represents a real danger for millions of Americans and for democracy in the USA. In view of the dispute over the planned takeover of Twitter by Elon Musk, his statements are particularly explosive. The head of Tesla and SpaceX considers the purchase agreement to be invalid due to alleged misrepresentations and breaches of contract by the company. Zatko’s comments came on the same day that Twitter’s shareholders approved the proposed acquisition by Elon Musk.
(mho)
