Senators blast Twitter’s alleged security failures as whistleblower testifies
Enlarge / Former Twitter security executive Peiter Zatko testifying at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on September 13, 2022. (credit: Senate Judiciary Committee)
The Democratic and Republican leaders of the US Senate Judiciary Committee blasted Twitter for alleged security failures in a letter last night on the eve of today's hearing featuring testimony from whistleblower Peiter "Mudge" Zatko.
"We write regarding recent allegations that Twitter has turned a blind eye to foreign intelligence infiltration, does not adequately protect user data, and has provided misleading or inaccurate information about its security practices to government agencies," Judiciary Committee Chair Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and ranking member Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) wrote to Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal.
Zatko, who was Twitter's head of security from November 2020 until being fired in January 2022, alleged in his complaint that he "uncovered extreme, egregious deficiencies by Twitter in every area of his mandate including... user privacy, digital and physical security, and platform integrity/content moderation." Zatko also claimed Twitter is guilty of "lying about bots to Elon Musk," though his complaint doesn't seem to disprove Twitter's public disclosure that less than 5 percent of its monetizable daily active users (mDAU) are spam or fake.